


Finding Atlantis

by Adorkable757



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Action, Blood and murder, Enemies to Allies To Lovers, F/M, Fantasy, M/M, Multi, Pirate AU, Romance, Violence, are you really enemies or just horny and bad with emotions who knows, baekhyun is a sexy one eyed pirate, based on pirates of the carribbean and sinbad, more like enemies and lovers to allies and lovers to just lovers, near references to memes, reader uses she/her, you both try to kill each other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:49:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 83,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23310421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adorkable757/pseuds/Adorkable757
Summary: 20 years ago the seas became angry. Unruly and unkind to any sailor, to any ship that dared venture too far out in her waters. Many a man has heard the tales of Atlantis, the lost city, the key the ocean. But fewer men know the tale of it’s missing child. The key to the ocean, the key to Atlantis but a lost little one. The power one would hold should they find this child would be nearly that of Poseidon himself. Thus, the hunt began.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Reader, Kim Junmyeon | Suho/Reader
Comments: 11
Kudos: 53





	1. part of the ship, part of the crew

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! It's me again with a new story. This one was inspired by a twitter conversation with my best friend about Pirate!Baekhyun and how I have my own hate/love relationship with him. I am unsure how long this will end up being, but I hope you all enjoy it as I attempt to bring to life my fantasy of EXO as pirates. All 9 members will appear alongside most of SMTOWN. There are a lot of people needed for this lol.

_20 years ago the seas became angry. Unruly and unkind to any sailor, to any ship that dared venture too far out in her waters. Many a man has heard the tales of Atlantis, the lost city, the key the ocean._

_The heart of the ocean._

_Atlantis was created by the Gods. Created by the God of the ocean, Poseidon, himself. He created a land, a city, in the middle of the ocean among the humans in order to be closer to humanity. He went on to fill his new city with his many half God, half human children; he allowed others who felt the pull of the ocean deep within their souls to populate his city and call it their home. Their Atlantis._

_The people of Atlantis were a rich people, culturally, morally, financially. Their advances far beyond our own. They lived in peace, in harmony and kept the sea happy, kept her calm and teaming with life. Poseidon’s children ruled the city with kindness, with understanding and neutrality for hundreds of years. They protected the city and the oceans for many, many years even after Poseidon himself returned to live amongst the other Gods._

_One day, a thousand years in the past, the people of Atlantis decided that they wanted_ more _. They were the keepers of the sea, they were the people of **Poseidon**. They wanted more money, more attention from their creator, more reverence from the humans and animals that they watched over. They wanted to be _worshiped _. They created waves large enough to drown continents, monsters big enough to destroy ships, and storms scary enough to keep the faint of heart far from the ocean, and even farther from their city._

_And so they were bestowed with destruction for their greed._

_The city was destroyed with volcanic eruptions, lightning storms, and ultimately a tsunami large enough to bury the city miles below the ocean’s surface._

_The city was lost beneath the waves of the ocean to never be found or seen by humanity again, but it’s believed to still exist. It is believed to still thrive, to have adapted, and reverted to its original task of protecting the ocean without greed or desire for repayment. For the seas have been kind again after the disappearance of Atlantis._

_Until 20 years ago._

_It was said that each of Poseidon’s children were born with a destiny that they were meant to fulfill. A destiny that was crucial to the survival of the seas. To the survival of marine life. To the survival of humans._

_Rumors that one of Poseidon’s children had run away to live amongst the humans began to spread across the lands like a wildfire as the ocean began to act restlessly, and monsters were starting to reappear in places they’d long vanished._

_For the return of this child, for the rediscovery of Atlantis, you would be rewarded with riches beyond your wildest dreams._

_Humans had tried to find Atlantis since its disappearance and none had gotten close to uncovering her secret location, so humans began to look for its lost child instead._

_The key to the ocean is Atlantis. And the key to Atlantis is its missing child. The power one would hold would be nearly matched to that of Poseidon himself._

_Thus, the hunt began._

_-Anonymous_

* * *

“Are we ready to leave port?”

“Yes Captain. All members are present and accounted for.”

“Good. Our heading is east, let’s make haste. I want to get this bounty and be back before the month’s end.”

“Ay, Captain.”

Leaving port is always as gratifying as it is stress inducing. There’s nothing that can quite match the rush you feel when you see your fellow crewman rushing around your ship, bringing her to life again, after weeks at rest. Raising the sails and cleaning down her surfaces before taking her back out home on the open sea, that rush is what excites you most in this world. The entire vessel buzzes with energy as your men call out to each other across the ship ensuring that she’s prepped and safe to take out on the water.

You always feel your chest swell with pride as they do their jobs with a confidence and energy that you hoped you played a part in inspiring. You’ve recruited each of them personally, and watched them grow under your guidance from nervously getting their sea legs to being some of the fiercest pirates known to man. Your first mate, Junmyeon has been by your side the longest, and is your most loyal second in command. Kim Junmyeon knows the ocean and the workings of the ship with nothing but innate talent. You would consider him just as respected and in charge of the ship as the captain himself.

Your quartermaster, Zhang Yixing has been with your ship for slightly less time than your first mate, but he is just as important. If Junmyeon is your right hand, then Yixing is your left. Yixing understands the workings of the ship and handles moral and makes every voice on the ship heard when issues among the crew arise.

You have a few sailing masters, those who handle navigation and piloting the ship. They are the keepers of the charts. Kim Yeri, your head sailing master is the smartest woman you’ve ever had the pleasure of taking aboard your crew. No one can read a map, chart a course, and follow the stars quite like her. Lee Taemin is your best pilot. He can guide your ship like it’s an extension of his own body, no matter the weather, no matter the conditions. Although Yeri and Taemin handle mostly navigation, they work hard at easing the burdens of your other crewmen as well.

You have 2 head gunners, Kim Minseok and Kang Seulgi. They lead two separate groups of men who are in charge of the ship’s artillery. Minseok and Seulgi are the fiercest fighters on the ship, well trained at aiming the heavy cannons and teaching their men how to work them safely. Minseok takes on the role as master gunner, the one in charge of all 8 men in the artillery.

Your cook, Qian Kun, doubles as the ship doctor. Both he and Yixing have been trained to attend to any kind of injury your crewmen may face.

You have 6 boatswains, or deckhands –those who handle all other activities on the ship. Whether it be anchoring, handling naval provisions, raising and lowering the sails, or just keeping the ship running smoothly. They all report directly to you, Junmyeon, or Yixing. They may be on the lowest rung of the ship, but they are just important to the ship as you are.

The crew of _Storm Chaser_ have built a relationship based on trust and respect. All men are important, all men are heard, and all men are expected to put their life on the line for his fellow crewman. If you are unable to follow this general understanding of how the crew works, then…well, you as captain would make sure that anyone who misbehaves is _handled_.

You’ve captained the _Storm Chaser_ for seven years now. She’s a decent sided ship, black as night with dark blue sails. She’s not huge, but she’s faster than the winds. She’s your pride and joy. She’s your _home_ , and she’s home to the 20 odd other people who work her with you.

You bought her with your first big bounty, back when you were but a powder monkey on some brute’s ship, dealing with the ammunition and cannons with other dispensable suckers.

He was a shit captain and an even shittier person, but he’d allowed you to work on his ship in the lowest position possible because he saw the drive in you. He gave you a chance, and you’ll forever be grateful for him.

Even if you ended up being the one to poison his food and bring his dead body to the admiral who’d wanted him dead or alive.

He’d underestimated you. That was his mistake. You should always watch your own back and build up relationships with others who you can trust. He was a bully and a hot-heated asshole. No one liked him, he didn’t respect those beneath him, and he was careless just because you seemed young and naive. So now he’s dead and you cashed out on his life.

That's the way of the pirates after all.

The award you were given, for leading that unnamed admiral back to the brothel room where you’d left your dead ex-captain, was a hefty chunk of change. You bought your first ship in cash at the ripe age of 19.

You became a _Captain_ at only 19.

You began to slowly build up a crew of trustworthy men and women who would lay down their life for you and for each other. You promised them safety in return for the building of trust aboard your ship. You’d seen captains who would do nothing but boss around their crew, take half of any reward for themselves, and would turn on any man on their ship at the drop of a dime.

That wasn’t the kind of captain you aspired to be. A good captain works with his men, is on the frontline of every fight, and acts as mediator when the ship is split on crucial decisions. A good captain works _with_ their ship, not against it.

You’ve wanted to be captain of your own ship for as long as you can remember. The ocean has called out to you since you were big enough to have memories.

You grew up on a small port on the easternmost part of Xiao Shitou, a large island known for its dealing with pirates. It was easy to do business on the island and get away with things that other islands would arrest you for. Things other islands would hang you for in the middle of its largest city. You grew up watching ships come into town with people of all kinds of looks, backgrounds, stories. You watched them with wide eyes and an ache in your chest that you could never quite explain.

You just knew that where ever they were going after they left your port, that’s where you _belonged_.

Your mother owned a bar right in the heart of the seaside town. _Storm Breaker_. You can remember playing around with the regulars as your mom served them ale and smiles and would listen to their stories. You can also remember hiding in the back room among the bags of flour and crates of unopened beer whenever people your mother didn’t trust would enter her bar. Pirates and hooligans visiting for the first time. People who did nothing but cause problems when they visit.

She was a fighter, your mother. A scary woman that everyone in town respected, and a loving woman who did everything she could to protect you. You looked up to her, you admired her, but still you knew that you couldn’t do what she did. You couldn’t grow up working a bar and seeing the same people and doing the same tasks every day. You didn't belong trapped in a small town so close to the ocean, but never actually on it.

At 8 years old you watched you mother get shot right in the chest in the middle of your living room. One bullet to the heart by some ruffian she’d threatened with her own gun when he was harassing women in her bar days before.

You managed to escape him by throwing the pot of boiling water that was still burning on your stove straight at his face, and then running straight out the door that he’d kicked down. You’d left your mother there and ran away just as she’d always instructed you to.

That was just how life in pirate port cities worked.

You dragged your mother’s body out of the house a week later with the help of a man who frequented your mother’s bar often enough to basically live there. You both gave her to the ocean. He stood at your side, patted your head and told you that you would be okay.

You never saw him again after that.

The next years you lived alone on the streets, stealing food, earning money for little odd jobs around the town when you could. Some people recognized you and would help you out when they could, but they had their own struggles and issues, so you continued to live on your own the best way you could. You got into fights, got chased by people who caught you picking their pockets or filling your cheeks with their food. It wasn’t easy, but life could have been worse.

You kept your eye out for the man who murdered your mother. He made Xiao Shitou his home not long after that night. He ended up taking over your mothers bar, changed the name to _Slut Cavern_ , and ran it into the ground a year later because he didn’t know how to fucking run a business.

When you were 11 you were able to find real work as a blacksmith’s apprentice. A woman with kind eyes and rough hands who taught you self defense and how to make and use the artillery she was selling.

Everyone just called her Victoria.

She’d known your mother, had gone to _Storm Breaker_ a few times. She never had her own children, too busy working and owning her business on her own to bother with the excuses for men who frequented Xiao Shitou, so she took you under her wing as her own.

Her business wasn’t clean. She often sold blades, gun parts, and bullets to the worst kinds of men. To pirates, looters, murders, slave owners, anything of the like.

She did what she could to make money. Your mother did the same with her bar.

Victoria would take you along when she would deliver her swords. You would watch her threaten men who dared try to steal from her, and kill those who would try to take advantage of her. You learned quickly how to surprise people with your brutality and quickness with a blade under her guidance.

By 13 you’d killed your first man. A dirty older man who bought a knife and wasn’t going to pay you since you’d come to collect the money on your own. This wasn’t the first collection you’d gone on without Victoria, but it _was_ the first time it hadn’t gone smoothly. He’d planned on assaulting you on top of robbing you. He’d pulled out his blade and advanced on you, but you were faster; you evaded his first swipe and slit his neck in one go with the thin but sharp sword on your hip.

You took off with his personal sword, the sword you were meant to sell to him, and all the valuables on his person. He lay there dead in an alley and you walked away with a smile on your face.

At 14 you cornered the man who killed your mother. He was stumbling drunk out of the bar your mother once owned and he hadn’t recognized you. You figured he’d forgotten all about the kid that slipped away from him. The kid who fucked up his face. He’d made disgusting advances that evening; uttered despicable words that you knew were meant to get you in his bed. You walked up to him and watched his lip curl up in a smile and he started to unbuckle his pants. You shoved your sword right in his chest, just as his hand reached into his pants to pull out his cock.

You watched the shock fill his expression; he choked out an agonized moan. You twisted the blade and pushed it as far as it could go through his heart. When you pulled it out and felt your hand wet with his warm blood, he slid down to the ground. You crouched down and looked in his eyes, watery with drunkenness and pain.

“I hope you rot in the hottest part of hell,” you’d said evenly. You drove your blade into the middle of his throat and watched the last of his life drain from his eyes, head lolling to the side and body going still. You went back to Victoria’s and she helped you wash away the blood without question.

At 16 you and Victoria parted ways. You wanted to go off and make your own money working aboard ships. Staying on the island wasn't the life for you. You watched the people who spent their whole lives on land. Watched them live the same daily routine over and over until they died. Watched them eat and shit and fuck the same people in the same place over and over again.

And you watched the pirates who would come for short periods of time, never staying put for too long. Living life on the unpredictable sea, following no one’s rules, taking what they wanted out of life and doing something new and exciting every day.

You wanted to be like them. That was where you belonged.

You had the swordsmanship. You didn’t have any ties Xiao Shitou outside of it being the place you were raised. Victoria would live on with or without you around. And you found that you had no fear of death.

You found your first captain, Captain Lee, inside of a bar that people tended to frequent when they were looking for work or for men to complete jobs. He was signing on crewmen that night and you joined a line of big, mean looking guys trying to make yourself fit in as much as you could. He laughed right in your face when you walked up to the table and demanded he let you on his crew.

“And how old are you sweetheart? Isn’t it a bit late at night for you to be at a place as dangerous as this?”

“Don’t worry about how late it is; I know how to handle myself. I want to join your crew. I don’t care what job it is, I just want to be on the sea.” You stood confidently.

He laughed at you again and waved you away with a roll of his eyes. The man behind you pushed you out of the way to take your place at the front. “I wasn’t done you brick-headed fucker!” You yelled. He’d looked over his shoulder, given you a once over and scoffed.

You took the gun out of your holster and shot a single shot directly into the air. The bar quieted. You finally had the attention you wanted.

You looked directly at Captain Lee. “I said, I want to be on your crew and-”

The man in front of you turned around fully with a scowl set on his face and a step in your direction. “Listen here little wench-” You cocked your gun and pointed it at the man who interrupted you.

“If you put your hands on me, I will kill you right here,” you challenged.

You watched the captain stand up with his hands folded across his chest and an amused smile on his face. “You going to let a little girl threaten you sailor?” He teased.

The man went red in the face at the challenge from the captain and the audacity of you to embarrass him in front of all the patrons in the bar. He lunged at you with all force and no coordination. You slipped under his reaching arms, lifted your gun to his head and fired a bullet directly into his skull.

He fell to the ground with a thud that shook the ground, and shocked everyone watching in silence. You lowered the smoking barrel and looked at Captain Lee in exasperation. _Have I made my point?_

With an impressed nod, he pushed forward the signing papers and the bar erupted back into normal business.

Here you are 10 years later with the ship you bought for killing him in turn. Life is a fickle thing.

Your first mate Junmyeon comes up to your side as you’re manning the helm, getting your ship farther away from the random port you’d all spent the last few weeks at. Weeks getting drunk, having fun, resupplying the ship.

“I’ve put the bounty papers on the table in your quarters. From what I’ve gathered, the guy we’re after has been going around destroying random port cities in the south east. Pillaging, raping, setting fire to homes, and then leaving with anything him and his men can find worth value,” Junmyeon tells you evenly.

You sigh and nod. “Dead or alive?” you ask with a look in his direction.

“Either. 50,000 dollars for him, and another 5 for each member of his crew,” he replies.

“That's a shit ton of money…”

“It’s enough to set us all for at least 3 years,” he agrees. “I can call Taemin to guide the ship while we discuss the logistics in your quarters.”

You nod again, and watch as Junmyeon walks off to search among your men for the purple haired pilot.

The sun begins to set as you all set out for the next weeks at sea. The sky blooms in shades of pink, purple, and blues. You don’t think that you could ever get tired of this sight.

“Captain, I can take over from here,” Taemin chirps from your side. He beams and leans an elbow on your shoulder.

“All yours.” You hand the ship over and scan the deck quickly for any sight of your first mate. His shiny black hair blows in the wind as he leans against the mast. Even doing nothing, he manages to look just as unreal as the day that you met him. You walk up to him with a smile and put your arm around his shoulder.

He laughs and wraps his arm around your waist. “So tell me more about the son of a bitch that we’re gonna go kill.” You guide him to your room with a lift to your voice. The excitement of going on another bounty hunt after days of relaxing make your hands itch to use your blade again.

You both enter your quarters and he takes a seat first at your large table covered in documents. You close the door while he settles in, chin in his hand and fingers tapping against the newest addition to the pile of papers. “You really need to clean this up,” he throws out lightly.

You shrug. “I like having them all, for sentimental value.” You keep the wanted posters of yourself, of your crewmen, of the people you hunt, and anything else that goes to show just how much of a name you’ve earned. How many accomplishments you’ve achieved.

“Hoarder,” he jokes.

You roll your eyes. “Whatever, my junk doesn’t matter. As my first mate it’s your job to keep me in order. You could clean it up if you wanted.” You flick him in the temple. He winces. “I wouldn’t be able to function without you.”

“You or the rest of the crew,” he scoffs. “I’m here to help you keep the ship moving, not to literally put your old paperwork in order.” You sit across from him and lean over the table to scan the papers splayed in front of you both. “Speaking of keeping the ship moving, let’s talk about our latest mission.”

“Of course!” Your skin thrums with excitement. “Has Yeri managed to get a handle on where our elusive man might be headed?”

He puckers his lips in thought and taps a map marked in red circles with his finger. “She looked at his previous hits and has been working to predict his course, but because he seems to be rather…unpredictable she’s reported difficulty pinpointing an exact location.” He looks up from the map. “We have a general idea of his location based on the last place that was reported hit and the direction of major currents that they may be following.”

“A general idea is better than nothing…I trust Yeri’s navigation and mapping skills. I’ll have her update when she finds changes. For now I think we should continue the course we’d set following you and her suggestion.”

“I’ll make sure-”

“CAPTAIN!” Junmyeon’s mouth closes immediately as you both train your eyes on the person who stormed in on your meeting. “Captain,” he says again out of breath.

“What is it Johnny?” you ask, standing up from the table. Your full attention sets on him.

“There’s a stowaway on board.”

“Fuck,” you curse.

“Where are they now?” Junmyeon asks the boatswain.

Johnny jerks his thumb behind him. “We’ve got him in irons and dragged him above deck. He was hiding in the food storage. We only found him when we were taking stock of food supplies.”

“Good job, I’ll be right out. Gather the rest of the crew. I want everyone on deck,” you command.

Johnny rushes out and you and Junmyeon share a look. This doesn't bode well and you both can feel it.

When you emerge from your quarters, you take note of your crew still gathering and the stowaway on his knees in the middle of the growing crowd.

He’s objectively handsome, you note. Dark hair, strands fall messily across this forehead and ears. Strong jaw, a well built face. He looks to be in his mid twenties. He’s wearing a beige blouse with leather pants and boots that tell a story of self care, of money. He looks like someone who spends a lot of time in the sun if the color on his face and hair tell you anything. He’s no dirtier than any of your men.

Not a beggar. Not by the looks of him.

You don’t have the time to deal with him at the moment. Not in the middle of a bounty hunt. You’ll send someone to question him later. “Throw him in the brig,” you call out to no one in particular.

“Wait…” you watch as your quartermaster pushes through your other men. His eyes widen at the man on the ground in front of him. “Jongin?” he asks in disbelief.

The stowaway looks up at the sound of his name and catches the eye of your crewman. “Yixing,” he sighs out in happiness, in relief. He sags a bit in his chains at the familiar face. You look between the two men in confusion.

“You know him?” You ask Yixing simply.

He nods vigorously. “Friends from childhood,” he says. “Almost like a brother.”

“Good. Then _you_ take him to the brig and question him.” Yixing nods at your words and is quick to get the stowaway on his feet. He looks alarmed at the fact that he’s still being taken to the brig, but Yixing understands your position on stowaways hopping aboard your ship. It’s not something to take lightly.

You look around at the rest of your men. “As for everyone else, I want all eyes searching the ship _immediately_. Stop whatever you were doing and start looking around. From top to bottom, from bow to stern. Look in every fucking _crack_. I fear we may have more than one stowaway on board. Find them and throw them in the brig. Find me or Junmyeon afterwards to deal with them.” At your words everyone disperses to frantically search the ship.

Yixing drags Jongin below deck by his chains. Junmyeon places and hand on your shoulder with a concerned frown.

“I know,” you say.

This can be no coincidence. No one would _dare_ just hop aboard your ship without any devious ulterior motive. Your ship is known for its ruthlessness and its ability to complete jobs quickly and cleanly. You’ve heard the stories in pubs.

“No one who has ever seen the captain has ever lived to tell the tale,” they say. Your ship is feared. _You_ are feared despite keeping your identity as captain of the _Storm Chaser_ on a need-to-know basis. You’ve built relationships with all of your crewmen, and you all thrive on the fact that the captain’s identity is kept secret. No one will mess with anyone on the crew in fear of them being the deadly Captain.

It works out for you all.

And this fear is what keeps lesser ships from fucking with you. You’ve had… _dealings_ in the past with individuals you’d rather forget existed, but you and your ship are always able to get away with minimal damage. You, along with pirates around the globe, know that this is not a ship you can just fuck with and get away with it.

You take it upon yourself to keep somewhat on course while the rest of the crew are looking for any extra bodies on the ship.

It’s hours later when a deckhand, Taeil, finds you at the wheel. “Captain we found one other stowaway. You won’t believe who it is…” he says with wide eyes.

“Are they in the brig already?” He nods. “Find Junmyeon and Yixing and tell them to man the ship while I go talk to the prisoners.” He runs off and you tell any other crewman on your way to the brig to go back to manning their normal positions.

The lamps in the brig have been lit at the new addition of prisoners. It’s been nearly half a year since you all had to use your brig like this. Most of the bodies you all bring back are dead and thrown in a body box you all keep deep below deck with other nonessential items.

Your ship has two decently sized cells (enough to hold 20 men in dire, cramped situations). In the first cell is the first stowaway, Jongin. He’s huddled in on himself in the far right corner of his prison with his head against his knees. He looks up at the sound of you coming down the stairs. You see the sadness and fear in his eyes before he hides his face once again against his knees. In the second cell you catch sight of hands languidly relaxing outside of the bars.

Hands adorned with various rings. You know those hands, it’s hard to forget them with the various encounters you've had with them.

“Ah…if it isn’t the fearsome Captain of the _Storm Chaser_ ,” he drawls amusedly.

The sneer that finds its way onto your face comes instantaneously at the sound of his voice. You step closer and take your second prisoner in. His flashy jewelry, the cloth wrapped around his forehead to soak up sweat, the stupid ass eye patch that he wears, and that grin that brings you nothing but fucking trouble.

“What the _hell_ are you doing on my ship Byun?”

You’ve known Byun Baekhyun for two years less than you've had your ship. You met him in Arae, a well known pirate city in the west, when you were 21 and he was 22. He was fairly well-known around the city. People knew him as a charming and witty pirate in training. He worked on different crews mainly as sailing master to whoever was willing to pay the most. If you needed information, he would most likely have it or know where to get it.

Junmyeon had gone off with Yixing to post “Help Wanted” posters in places around the city. You had snuck off for a drink in a bar. You were tired, and the three of you had been looking for more crewmen for days.

He’d slid up to your side with his best smile and a gleam in his eye that drew you into him. That and the eye patch he sported. He was possibly one of the most handsome men you had ever initially seen, with his white teeth, the sneaky look in his eye, and the earrings and jewelry adorning his body.

“You must be new around here,” he observed.

You downed the rest of your drink. He watched in silence. “Is it obvious?”

He motioned for the bartender and ordered two more of the drink you had been drinking. “Kind of. I usually know all the pretty people that frequent Arae.” The drinks were placed in front of you both. You took the one he nudged your way with a snort.

“That line work on everyone you hit on at a bar?”

He laughed around a sip of his drink. “I don’t know. Is it working with you?”

You paused in bringing the cup back to your lips to really get a look at the man next to you. He was handsome, sure. And yeah you guessed he was kind of charming with his bright smile and pretty fingers wrapped around his own drink. His hair looked soft, and the mole above his lip was kind of cute. But boy, did he have some big ass ears.

Fuck it, it had been a couple of weeks since you’d had sex. Who were you to turn down an offer like this? You didn’t even need to _work_ for it. “Yeah I think it might be working,” you told him. His eye widened at your admission. “So, you got a place around here or what?”

He smiled fully again then, finished off his drink, stood up from his chair and held out a hand for you to take.

The moment you put your hand in his sealed your fates together.

He fucked you, against the hotel mirror, cracked in the middle when he slammed you too roughly against it. You fucked him, in the dirty motel shower when he had gone to clean himself off and you left painful bites along his wet skin and pushed him under the spray of the water and pulled another orgasm out of him with nothing but your hand and kisses hard enough to make his lip bleed. You fucked each other, one last time on the bed, arms pinned above your head as he marked your own skin with sucks and bites that stung for days after.

You lay on your back, chest heaving as he put on his boots. You had called it quits because you needed to leave soon. To find Junmyeon and Yixing. They wouldn’t be worried, but they would ask questions. Questions you didn’t have the energy to answer.

A click of metal on your wrist shocked you out of your fucked-out stupor.

“What the-” You yanked against the metal and heard it clang against the bed frame.

He stood up, straightened out his shirt and pushed back his hair, looked down at you in satisfaction. Covered in marks, cuffed to the bed, and naked as the day you were born. “Sorry, it’s nothing personal sweetheart. I had a good time, but…” he jingled the pouch of money that was in your discarded trousers on the ground. 

You stared in disbelief. A bit impressed, but more pissed off. You couldn’t really be that upset since you’d let your own guard down. “If you’re going to rob me and ditch me chained to this bed, the least you can do is kiss me goodbye, you dick.” You sat up the best you could and pulled the sheet up to cover yourself with your free arm.

He held your money pouch out of reach as he leaned down to press a rough kiss against your lips. You bit his hard enough to draw blood. When he pulled away and brushed the blood off his bottom lip with a clipped laugh, you bared your teeth. “Cute.”

You licked the blood off your own lip and spat it on the sheet at your side. He tossed your money in the air and caught it with a smirk. “Thanks for the pouch, and the sex. You’re not bad, kid,” he said appreciatively. “Good luck getting out!” He wiggled his fingers and disappeared from the room with a bounce in his step. You nodded to yourself and laughed sourly at the situation you’d been left in.

“Bastard…” you muttered as you pulled your free hand back from under your sheet. The hand you’d snuck into his pocket with the pouch of money you pulled off him as you bit his lip. “Dumbass,” you said with a smile. The money he had on him is more than what you were carrying around, you could tell from its weight. If he was going to rob you, you could rob him right back. Fuck him and his handcuffs.

It took half an hour before someone came to help you out of your cuffs. That’s how you met Seulgi. She was a maid at the hotel, and came to clean when she found you bruising your own wrist trying to yank your arm free. She used a pin in her hair to uncuff you and you offered her a job on your ship on the spot. Maybe you could thank him for that at the very least.

Every encounter you've had with Baekhyun since then has ended with one of you bleeding, beaten, or abandoned in some location with no way home. You don’t think that you’re someone who really _hates_ anyone. You understand people usually have their reasons for doing things, and there are times when people need to die for particularly horrid crimes.

It’s never personal for you.

But Byun Baekhyun? You loathe him. You cannot fucking _stand_ that sorry excuse for a pirate and you’re glad to know he feels the same. The hatred you feel for him, oh it’s personal. Any pain you want to inflict on him, is entirely for your own pleasure.

He smiles, all teeth, at you from behind bars. “Long time no see. Glad to see you’re in good health.” He scans you from top to bottom. “You look much better than you did the last time we met, sweetheart.”

“That’s _Captain_ to you,” you correct. He raises his hands in mock apology. “What are you doing here?”

“We’re just your average stowaways _Captain_. Nothing less, nothing more.” His response in relaxed, comes out too easily.

“Bullshit,” you bite out. “Give me a real reason why you’re aboard my ship or I’ll kill you and your little friend, right here.” He raises his eyebrows but his earlier smile melts into a smirk. “I’m waiting.”

He shrugs innocently. Fuck it. You pull out your gun and shoot it once right above his head without warning. He jumps and the prisoner in the other cell lets out a surprised yelp at the noise.

“Spill it,” you growl. Your ears ring from the sound of the gun firing in such a small space, but as much as it hurt you, it had to hurt him more.

“Fuck.” He winces and digs a finger into his ear. His expression finally turns serious when he brings his attention back to your face. He looks you dead in the eye. “I know you’ve got the Princess of Atlantis aboard this ship.”

It feels as though time stops. You try to keep your expression neutral, but he must find some kind of break in your facade because he brightens immediately. The excitement in his eye makes his smile look wild. “You do, don’t you?” he asks with barely concealed mirth.

You raise your gun between his eyes. “What do you _want_?” You can feel the panic rising in your veins. You close your eyes for a second and try to hold in your anger. “If you don’t give me a reason not to fucking kill you both right here in the next 5 seconds-”

“I know how to find Atlantis,” he starts. You open your eyes to properly judge the words coming from his mouth. “I know how to get the princess back home. She’s been lost for years, everyone knows that. I don’t know how long she’s been aboard your ship but I know that it’s been long enough that you’ve stopped actively looking for the city.” He sounds serious enough in his explanation.

But then again, he would say anything to save his own life.

“How do you know that I’ve been looking for ways to find Atlantis?” You and your crew gave up trying to find it almost 3 years ago. Every man and his mother has been looking for the Princess of Atlantis since news broke out of her going missing 20 years ago. You didn't think that anyone had caught on to your ship looking for the lost city itself and not its lost princess.

Baekhyun rolls his neck slowly, you cock your gun impatiently. “Hold on, hold on. Give me a second!” he exclaims. “Itchy trigger finger,” he mutters under his breath. He clears his throat and settles back into seriousness. “I have my sources okay. Nearly everyone on Arae knows that she vanished and that there’s a hefty reward for her capture. Everyone has been looking for her for years, but not you. Not your ship. You’ve been looking for clues to the city itself. It doesn’t take a genius to put together the pieces that you must already know of her whereabouts.

“It was honestly a shot in the dark…assuming that she’s on the ship, but you’ve already told me everything I needed to know.” He smiles devilishly.

“I haven’t told you shit.”

“You and I both know that you’re wrong about that.” His eyebrow quirks quickly. You exhale angrily. “It’s only a matter of time before a lesser man puts together the same pieces that I did.” He tilts his head cockily. You lower your gun but keep your eyes trained on him.

Cocky bastard.

You've come to know Baekhyun as a captain known for his wits, craftiness, and unpredictability. You’ve crossed paths many a times in the past, and as much as you hate to admit it, he may be one of the smartest pirates around. Because of his reputation you are willing to believe that he gathered this information on his own and hasn’t gone around spreading it to just anyone. If he’s got a hunch about a prize, he goes after it on his own.

He may have gotten the information from real sources, but that doesn't mean that you trust him. You put your gun in its holster and decide to end your questioning there. You don’t want him to get any information out of you accidently before you get a chance to talk to your crew.

Fuck. “Don’t you have any more questions!?” he calls out after you. “I’d be more than happy to answer them!”

You continue your way out of the room, but not before tossing back a, “Shut up Byun” and leaving them entirely.

* * *

You call your first mate and navigator to your quarters for a meeting. You leave the ship in Yixing’s capable hands while you all have this dire discussion.

Fingers tap nervously on the table top as Yeri and Junmyeon settle in across from you. There’s no plan to ease into this conversation, so you bite the bullet and get right to the chase.

“Byun knows how to find Atlantis.” You hear an intake of breath but close your eyes rather than meet the looks on their faces. “I know we said that we would give up on this wild goose chase years ago. I know that. The clues back then were always dead ends, useless, or wastes of time…if not all three.” You exhale tiredly, in disbelief at the words coming from your mouth. “But I think that Byun could be telling the truth…and I may be willing to try one last time to find Atlantis…for the princess.”

You lift your eyes from the table to gauge their expressions. Junmyeon looks at you pensively, a bit of disappointment in his eyes while Yeri avoids your eyes and instead focuses on the table.

“Captain…haven’t you…had run ins with him in the past? How could you trust him?” Junmyeon asks carefully.

“Do you mean the time he locked me in the brig of his ship, tried to kill me, and then left me for dead on a deserted island? Or maybe the time he shot me in the arm at that bar in Arae because I bought the last pint of his favorite beer? Oh! Or perhaps you mean the time he tried to turn me in for a bounty on my head and I had to handcuff him to a sink and knock him unconscious just to get away?” You list a few of your encounters off the top of your head and Junmyeon winces. “Yeah, don’t worry I haven’t fucking forgotten.”

You can also remember all of the bounties that you lost to him and his crew. Your ship could be the first notified, but somehow he would manage to get there first and claim the reward that you were hired for. The information was getting slipped to him by members on your crew that he’d bribed.

Let’s just say you had to do some pest extermination and reevaluating the so-called loyalty of your crewmen.

“I don’t trust him,” you tell them simply. “But I’m willing to follow his information, if it seems trustworthy, just one last time.”

“One last time?” Junmyeon asks hopefully. Since the first days of _Storm Chaser_ , Junmyeon has been here at your side. He’s seen you run yourself ragged trying to find the lost city in your early days as captain.

You place your hand on his. “One last time,” you assure him. You look over to Yeri who hasn’t said a word since the conversation began and can feel how tense she is. “It’ll be fine Yeri. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, then we kill Byun and the princess will stay here on the ship with the crew. We’re all a family, remember?” She smiles a bit and relaxes at your words. “Either way I win, so I just need you two to be on my side when I bring this before the rest of the crew.”

Yeri finally nods and places a hand on your shoulder. “Okay Captain,” she says with a squeeze.

“I’m in Cap’n,” Junmyeon says assuredly. “One last time.” He warns.

You smile sadly. “One last time, I promise…” you let out a breath you didn't realize you were holding. “I guess we should call off this other bounty hun-”

A gunner bursts into your room. “Captain, the prisoners escaped.”

You groan and stand up from the table. “Did anyone _search_ the prisoners before we locked them up?” The gunner looks sheepish.

“We took away their swords, knives, and guns…” he starts.

You storm out of the room. “ATTENTION! I WANT EVERYONE’S ATTENTION RIGHT FUCKING NOW.” You wait a total of 30 seconds for the attention of anyone around. “I want ALL men to look for the prisoners. If you catch sight of them and they try to run…you have my explicit permission to shoot them in their fucking kneecaps. Byun is an expert lock picker so I want him brought straight to _me_ before he’s taken back to the brig!” No one moves. “GO ON!”

* * *

Baekhyun is thrown at your feet on the main deck not long after setting everyone on the crew to find him and his accomplice.

His kneecaps are still fully intact (much to your dismay).

You look towards Minseok. “Search him thoroughly.” You glance at Baekhyun who looks all too smug about finding his way out of your brig once. “I want him striped, and searched _thoroughly_ ,” you emphasize, leaning closer to Minseok pointedly.

Minseok smirks happily. Baekhyun finally looks a bit nervous. You smile gratuitously and leave Minseok to it. You know that Minseok will get the job done and make Baekhyun regret every second of it.

“Yeri!” Blonde hair bounds over to you. “Chart a course for the closest port. We need to make a stop before we make any hasty moves.”

“Ay, Cap’n,” she says happily. You watch proudly as she ties up her hair and heads to the maps that she knows like the back of her hand. In your periphery you catch Baekhyun being dragged back below deck, but his gaze is fixed on Yeri. You frown and make a mental note to, personally, check that he’s sufficiently locked up.

He’s fucking up to something. You can feel it as clearly as you can the beginning of a storm.

* * *

A week passes on the sea with no issues. The weather has been kind, and has sped up your arrival time to Glacia, a large island close by that your ship can use to restock and prepare for its next course.

The prisoners have been quiet and fairly respectful (in the best way that prisoners can) and have caused minimal issues. You’ve sent Yixing down to try and pull information from either of them about the whereabouts of Atlantis, but he hasn’t gotten anywhere fruitful. You’re planning on waiting until getting to port and dragging the information out of Baekhyun even if it kills him.

Much to your annoyance, his presence has awoken the curiosity and gossipy side of your crewmen. It's slowly driving you absolutely batshit crazy.

You go down to the food storage to refill your canteen with drinking water, and to sneak a bottle of rum to your room (hopefully without being caught by your first mate). You crouch down among the secured bottles when whispering catches your attention. You freeze where you are in fear of Yixing or Junmyeon shaming you for stealing liquor from the storage, but you quickly recognize the voices of other crewmen as they get closer.

You strain to hear the conversation, but they start talking louder once they assume the room is empty. Mark, your junior gunner, whispers, “I heard he lost his eye fighting a baby kraken single-handedly.” You immediately know they’re talking about Baekhyun and the urge to reveal yourself and cut the conversation off is only slightly less than your desire to eavesdrop.

“I heard he slept with the eldest son of the King of Jekyll and was shot in the eye for ruining the Prince’s engagement.” Wendy, a boatswain whispers back excitedly.

“I heard that ever since he lost his eye, his fighting has only gotten _better_.” Taeyong, a junior sailing master says.

“That's true! He practiced fighting with one eye closed as a child and then took his own eye out to prove that he can still fight just as well and beat any other swordsman with just one eye.” Wendy says. You resist the urge to snort.

“Wow…he’s fucking crazy,” Taeyong says in shock. “The eye patch…is kind of sexy though. I have to give it to him.”

“He’s kind of amazing don't you think? He even dared try and kill the Captain multiple times…” You pick out the voice of Kun, your cook. If you’d planned on interrupting before you _definitely_ aren’t going to now. They’re talking about _you_ now too?

Mark gasps. “Who do you think would win in a sword fight? Have they ever fought one on one like that? I think Byun would win, the one eye thing probably makes all his other senses stronger…”

“Nah, she’s the best swordsman alive. There’s no way she’d lose a fight like that with him.” You smile as you pick out Minseok’s voice. Damn right.

“Didn’t they fuck? Did he ditch her after they had sex? Isn’t that why she hates him so much? That and the fact that he’s like…tried to murder her.” Wendy inquires. You hear a giggle.

“They definitely fucked; she would have killed him long ago if she wasn’t in love with him. They say the line between love and hate is super thin,” Taeyong says as if it's a well-known fact.

“Don’t you all have work to be doing?” You ask after hearing enough. You stand up from your spot, rum in one hand, your water in the other and your deadliest glare on your face. “Or would you all like to continue to discuss my sex life and rumored love of the son of a bitch locked in the _prison_ of my ship?”

Everyone straightens and Mark lets out a noise of surprise.

“Sorry Captain!” Wendy, Kun, Mark, and Taeyong say in unison before scurrying from the storage room.

Minseok walks up to you with a smile on his face, and nudges your arm holding the rum with his elbow. “You planning on telling your husband about this?”

You grimace. “Don’t call him that. And don’t tell him about this,” you hiss. He laughs. “I’m still angry with you…gossiping about me on my own ship.”

“There’s nothing else to do these days, and we’ve got the ‘famed’ Captain Byun Baekyun aboard. Of course people are gonna gossip, you know it’s all in good fun.” He grabs the rum from your hand, uncorks it with his teeth and takes a huge swig. “If you were actually angry, you would have stopped them earlier. You can still scare the newer members but I know you’re not going to do anything about it.” He holds the bottle out towards you. “You _were_ eavesdropping as if you were interested in the topic at hand,” he says smugly.

You grab the bottle with a frown. “Oh shut up…” you take a swig and hand it back to him. You point a finger at him threateningly. “Seriously, don’t tell Junmyeon _or_ Yixing about this Minseok. I’m serious. They give me enough shit about not drinking while I’m supposed to be on duty.”

Minseok laughs around another swallow of the liquor. “Ay, ay, Captain.” His voice is nothing but playful, and you know that later tonight you’re going to get an earful from either your first mate or quartermaster based off of something they heard from an “anonymous source”.

You leave the bottle with him, a promise of “keeping this between you two and finishing off the evidence on his own” on his lips as you sulk to the kitchen for dinner and then to bed.

As expected, Junmyeon bites your ear off at dinner about drinking down in the food storage and you apologize profusely. Yeri laughs at your side and Minseok peaks his head in the kitchen with a smile and thumbs up before vanishing again.

Mutineer.

* * *

Your door slams open at the early hours of the morning startling you out of your sleep. You groan and sit up in your bed tiredly. “Listen, I said I was _sorry_ Junmyeon. You already ripped me a new one I’m not going to drink again…” You rub your eyes and finally recognize the face in your doorway.

Yixing looks frantic and not at all bothered by your sleep driven rumbling. “There’s a ship in the distance off of starboard. A couple of our men are down, knocked out but alive and-”

“And let me guess,” you interrupt and your mind immediately switches awake. Sleep long forgotten as you begin putting on your boots. “The prisoners escaped.”

Yixing swallows, his expression turning grim. “And they’ve taken Yeri.”

Fuck.


	2. what do you want most in this world?

You scramble out of your bed at his words. You shove your feet in your boots, sling your sword and gun haphazardly across your body and run out of the room as fast as your feet can carry you. Yixing follows close behind. As soon as you emerge from your quarters, you see that some members of your night crew are being carried to the infirmary for their injuries, and anyone else awake enough to gauge the situation is running around trying to man their stations. You walk to the edge of your ship and your telescope is slapped into your waiting palm.

You set it on the ship in the distance.

You don’t think you’ve ever seen it before. It’s inconspicuous enough. White sails and dark brown hull. You find Baekhyun quickly enough. He’s standing on the main deck with a triumphant smile on his face; Yeri held by two men and bound and gagged at his side. Her eyes are darting around quickly, calculating, trying to find her way out. Baekhyun stands proudly with one hand on his hip. He has his own telescope trained on your ship, and his jewelry gleams in the early morning light.

Seeing your telescope trained on him, he puts his own down, and has the fucking _audacity_ to wave. You close your telescope with a clack loud enough to indicate that you might have broken it, but you don’t care right now.

“Report,” you demand to whoever is at your side.

Junmyeon takes the telescope from your clenched fingers. “They haven’t moved in an hour or so. From the looks of it, they broke out, knocked out the night crew, and kidnapped Yeri while she was awake at her post before they stole a dinghy and rowed over to that ship. We don’t know what they want, but they haven’t made any further moves to hurt her or to run.”

You grit your teeth. He’s gone too fucking far. Kidnapping a member of your crew? You can tolerate his bullshit on a good day, but when it comes to messing with your crew…you might really have to kill the bastard this time.

“Ready all canons. I want Minseok to prepare any cannons we have available with any men we have available.” You clench your empty fist again, and look at Junmyeon who is just as pissed off as you, angry red splotches blooming across his skin. “Hard to starboard and forward sail. We’ve either got a fight or a chase coming, so I want all hands on deck and ready for anything.”

Junmyeon nods and then barks out orders across the ship. You’re going to rip Baekhyun’s heart out through his fucking _asshole_. You attempt to reel in your temper as your ship closes in on his; you refuse to let him see you unhinged because of his actions. Thinking about the unadulterated happiness it would bring him helps you put on a calmer mask.

His ship doesn’t move, but it _is_ bigger than you expected.

“Ready all canons, but hold your fire until I say so.” Your orders are parroted across the ship, all the way to Minseok who is below deck with Seulgi handling your weapons.

When your ship is broadside, and finally close enough to be within hearing distance of his, he speaks first. “Give us the princess and we’ll let the girl go. You can have her back, we won’t harm a hair on her pretty little head,” he shouts across the distance.

“Eat shit and die!” You shout back. You hear his laugh, loud and clear in the air. Yeri catches your eyes. She widens her own and shakes her head furiously. You swallow down bile at the thought of them hurting her. “You’ll let her go?” you ask. She shakes her head again, begging you not to switch her out. One of his men shoves her hard enough to bring her to her knees. You instinctively take a step forward.

Baekhyun’s eye shines with excitement.

Yeri is strong, you know that, but you won’t let her stay on that ship. Not with him.

“Yep,” he says with a smile large enough to blind you.

You stand with your head lifted and a hand on your gun in case he tries anything funny.

“Let her go, the rest of my crew, and my ship,” you demand.

He leans against the wood railing of his vessel with a relaxed grin. “We’ll let her go, and your ship if you hand over the princess.” He agrees easily.

You look around your ship of men and feel ice filling your veins. Yixing shakes his head desperately from where he stands among your younger crewmen. The fear on their faces is plain.

“Hurry up Captain. Before my kindness runs out,” Baekhyun calls across the water. “I know it’s not her.” Turning away from your men, you watch him pat the top of Yeri’s head with a pout on his face. His pout is exaggeratedly sad. “She’s too young, isn’t she? How old are you sweetie? 17?”

Bless her heart, Yeri manages the meanest look you’ve ever seen her give. It doesn't deter the man it’s directed at. “You don’t scare me, sorry sweetheart.”

There’s not much you can do. He has the upper hand here and you know that he’ll kill her easily if you refuse. Hell, he’ll probably blow the entire ship to bits for the fun of it if you don’t give him what he wants.

You inhale and exhale heavily, in defeat. You won’t risk the safety of your crew over this. His ship is larger and will do more damage in a fight if it came down to it. No matter how skilled your men are at combat… “How do I know you’re true to your word?”

“You have my word, as a pirate, as Captain, and as a man. If it eases your mind, we won’t bring you any harm…princess.” His eye locks on yours. You summon all the rage of the oceans into the glare that you send back.

“Fine.”

Junmyeon grabs your arm. “Captain-”

You shrug him off and turn to face your first mate. “Listen, you all know what to do in situations like this. This isn’t the first time I’ve been away from the ship. I’ll be fine, you’ll be fine. We’ll find each other again. Take care of everyone on my ship Junmyeon…they’re all I’ve got.” You grab his hand in yours and try to project strength and confidence. He squeezes yours in turn and nods solemnly at your words.

A plank is extended between your ships, and Yeri is unbound. With shaky steps, she walks across the way. “Don’t try anything funny!” he calls from the other ship.

“Fuck you!” you shout in return. Yeri collides with you in a hug as soon as she’s safely aboard your ship again.

“You don’t have to do this, you could- I could have stayed. You could have let me stay I-”

“No,” you tell her softly. You wipe away the tears on her cheeks and hold her face in your hands. “I have to do this. I won’t let them take you. You belong here.” You say with seriousness. You pat her head gently. “You all know what to do,” you tell your crew softly. “Arae.”

With a deep breath you make your way across the shaking board connecting your ships. The plank is retracted and cold iron is clapped around your wrists once you have made it on the deck of the ship Baekhyun captains.

Baekhyun keeps his eye trained on your ship. “Put her in the brig.” And without a beat more “Fire cannons Alpha and Beta,” he demands.

“NO! WAIT” You lurch forward to escape the hands holding you back. You fight and thrash against the two men tasked with restraining you. Cannons roar around you as you’re dragged below deck. You struggle harder, tears springing to your eyes at the sounds of cannons crashing into wood. At the sounds of your ship being torn apart. Wood splits and you watch in horror as your mainmast begins to collapse.

The last thing you see is the butt of a gun as it sends you into darkness.

* * *

The first thing you register once you’ve regained consciousness is the fact that you’re in a bed and not on the cold hard floor that’s expected of the brig of a ship.

The second thing is that you’re not in the brig at all, but in a bedroom. The Captain’s Quarter’s…you’d recognize it immediately it no matter the ship. It’s dark but you can’t tell if it’s night time or if the thick curtains are exceptionally good at blocking out the sun.

This isn’t the first time you’ve been knocked out. It probably wouldn’t be the last.

You quickly try to pull yourself together.

You pat down your body.

No weapons. Of course. And no irons? You bring your hands up to your face and stare in confusion at the lack of metal around your wrists. _Stupid of them_ , you think.

Your muscles feel tight and heavy from lack of use. You can hear voices outside and pick up Baekhyun yelling at his men.

“Fuck.” You let your head fall back against the headboard of the bed with a thunk. You wince and bring your hand up to where you were hit earlier when you passed out. Bandages. You moan softly at the dull pain behind your eyes and close them. This doesn’t make sense. What is going on?

You’re not in the brig. Why the fuck not?

They bandaged you up. That's definitely a first.

You inhale and catch the smell of salt and meat. When you open your eyes you finally notice the plate on the table at your side. A plate of bread, dried meat, and an orange sit politely placed. It mocks you.

“A meal and bedroom in exchange for the lives of everyone on my crew and my fucking ship, he’s too kind,” you mutter sarcastically. You’re shaken from your darkening thoughts at the sound of the door opening.

You squint as light floods the room and a silhouette appears. You try to make out the figure.

The stowaway –no, Jongin.

As your vision clears, you see that he is holding a tray of medical supplies. He is backlit by a light that continues to blind you. He pauses when he realizes that you’re awake. His eyes widen minutely. With a glance behind himself, he appears to gather all his courage to enter the room. The door closes and you get your vision back. You blink away stars.

He sets the tray next to the untouched food, and you train your eyes on him as he looks at the food in disappointment. “It’s not poisoned…” he says sitting down at your side. “You’ve been out for nearly 24 hours, you must be hungry.”

“I’m not-” you rasp but are interrupted but the godless rumbling of your stomach. Your stomach that seems to be upset to have be reminded of its emptiness. Jongin smiles shyly at your side. You curse your stomach’s betrayal and the hoarseness of your own voice.

You look him from head to toe. He’s not freakishly buff but he looks as though he works out and has more strength in his muscles than his lean frame lets on. You wonder what your chances are if you manage to escape him and make a run for the door.

“Don’t think about it,” he warns. You pull your eyes off the door where you’d let your gaze land for a moment too long. “You could probably take me, but the room is guarded and we’re leagues away from land. You don’t have any of your weapons. You wouldn’t get very far,” he informs you matter-of-factly.

Is that right?

He watches you cautiously, and despite the warning, you decide to test your luck. You’ve wormed your way out of worse. Even if you don’t get far now, the least you could gain is a scope of the security and the number of men you’ll have to fight.

You reach over suddenly and shove Jongin and his chair to the ground. Your adrenaline begins to pump full force. You scramble out of the bed and out the door before anyone can yell or realize what you’ve done.

The afternoon sun hits your eyes like a laser beam and blinds you again as soon as you’re outside. You sprint blindly for a full 5 seconds before you’re tackled straight to the ground. You squirm and curse beneath what feels like two grown men.

All of their weight is placed on you as they manhandle your limbs. Your arms are harshly yanked behind your back and immediately clapped in cold iron. They shove your face against the dirty floor of the deck until you stop struggling. You give up after a minute when the dehydration, hunger, and lack of energy suddenly catch up to you. The adrenaline rush didn’t last as long as you’d hoped.

A pair of boots come into your view and stops inches from your face.

Baekhyun squats down, “I knew it was only a matter of time before you tried to escape. Idiot,” he spits. “Take her back to my chambers, keep her handcuffed.” The weight on your back lessens only slightly and you can take in a proper breath.

“What about her injuries Captain?” you hear Jongin’s worried voice.

Baekhyun looks up and then stands up to his full height, a solid few inches shorter than the other, but somehow making Jongin seem like the smaller of the two. “What about them?” His voice is cold and challenging.

Jongin looks down at the ground in submission. You blink until your vision stops swimming. The bodies finally lift and you’re dragged to your feet with more force than necessary. You stumble against their hold.

“I’ll deal with you in a minute,” Baekhyun hisses in your face. You squint against the light and scowl.

You’re taken back to his quarters and are released from your bonds only long enough for them to recuff them above your head to the metal headboard. You exhale heavily as the men leave you to yourself in the room.

“Fuckers…” you grumble. You groan at the different uncomfortable sensations that you suddenly feel all at once.

Maybe you didn't fully think this through. You’re starving, you’re thirsty, your head still hurts like a bitch, and you don't even have to energy to properly fight back.

And now you’re handcuffed to Baekhyun’s bed. Again.

 _Great_.

You wiggle anxiously against the cuffs in an attempt to find a more comfortable position when Baekhyun enters the room. He grabs a chair, drags it across the room and sits in it backwards in the same spot Jongin found himself not even 10 minutes earlier.

His lips purse in a pout, as he looks from your bound hands down the length of your body. You jerk roughly against the cuffs in an attempt to bring his attention back to your face.

It works.

Disgust, rage, and something else fills your chest at the vaguely appreciative look he gives you.

He folds his arms over the back of the chair and rests his chin on them. A smirk slides in place. “And here I thought you’d be happy to be back in my bed,” he says coyly.

“Bite me.”

His smile widens and his pointy white canines grab your attention. You think back to the feeling of those teeth grazing against the skin on your neck as you let him fuck you once, twice, in countless dingy hotel rooms in Arae over the years. It’s always anything but kind, anything but sweet. You both sport bruises for days after and hate each other just as much, if not more, after sharing a bed as you did before.

You suppress a shiver and shake away the memories forcefully.

“I’d be happy too,” he chirps. “But, that’s only for good little girls who beg me nicely.” He taps the tip of your nose mockingly. You contemplate biting his finger clean off.

You shift in the handcuffs and catch him glance at your bound hands again. “Eye off the cuffs you freak.” He laughs and drops his gaze back to your face. “Why am I here instead of in the brig? I didn’t ask to be chained to your bed. Although, I’m sure _you’re_ enjoying it.”

“The brig is for prisoners, and you, your majesty, are a princess after all. So, you get the royal suite.” He gestures grandly around the very average room. “The handcuffs are your own doing, you know that right?” he asks. He drags his finger along the space where the metal meets your wrist.

You roll your eyes. “So, what now? Are you planning on taking me to Atlantis?”

He sits up a bit straighter in his seat. “No, why would I do that when the bounty for you is worth at least 500,000 dollars. An additional 100 when I prove to them that you’re also the _famed Captain of the Storm Chaser_ ,” he derides.

“So you lied about knowing how to find Atlantis then?”

He shakes his head innocently. “I never said that. I know someone who knows how to find it. That doesn’t mean that I’m actually planning to go look for it. I could care less about some underwater city when the price for its little lost princess is so high.” He trails the back of his hand across your cheek.

You shake away his hand and scoff. “Oh come on. I know you’re curious about it,” you start. “That’s what drives you at the end of the day, right? Not money, not fame, no. You can get all of that easily. Without even trying.” He watches you cautiously. You lean closer to him. “Curiosity,” you whisper. “It’s your drive, keeps you awake at night, makes you go out of your way to collect information on anything and everything you can get your hands on because it kills you to _not know_ about the things around you.

“Your curiosity…it’s a funny thing isn’t it?” You laugh. “People think you’re just some reckless hotheaded rebel desperate for attention, when you really just want to know about the world. About the ocean. About the people around you and what makes them tick. What excites them. What turns them on.” His expression darkens ever so slightly. “You’re desperate for information and I know that not knowing about Atlantis must _kill_ you inside, no matter how you might try to convince me and _yourself_ that it doesn’t.” You lower your voice to a whisper and watch in satisfaction as he catches himself leaning closer to you.

He clears his throat, leans back. “You aren’t going to be released trying to talk your way out of it like this. You know me better than that.”

You do. “I know. I wasn’t counting on it.” You hope your tone comes across as noncommittal. “I just want you to think about what you’re going to miss if you turn me in for the money without even trying to find Atlantis for yourself. The princess is the key to Atlantis, and Atlantis is the key to the sea right? I’ve heard the price for the return of the princess is even higher than that of what is being offered for her head.” You shrug.

He squints at you. “How much higher?”

“Triple,” you say with a smile. You know that you've got his attention and that his resolve is faltering. With the increase in money and his own curiosity, you know that it’s enough to temporarily get him on your side. Baekhyun isn’t as complicated a person as he likes to lead people to believe. You lean back against the headboard. “Besides, you’ve got the wrong person,” you add as an afterthought.

He blinks once and then laughs so loudly you startle in your spot. “Now you’re definitely just trying to save your own ass. That’s enough fantasy spinning for one day, don’t you think? Lying doesn’t suit you.” He stands up from his chair.

“What do you think is going to happen when whoever is paying you figures out that you’ve brought them a fake princess, huh? They’ll kill us both without a second thought and you know it!” he doesn’t stop to entertain you, making his exit. “All because you didn't take one second to figure out if I’ve been lying this whole time or not. Stupidity doesn’t suite you Baekhyunie!”

The door slams behind him.

Baekhyun is smart, sure, but he’s not immune to over thinking. You hope that you’ve managed to at least plant a seed of doubt in his mind. All you need is a single opportunity.

If he manages to believe you, he’ll most likely take you to his source. You’ll be able to tell then whether or not he was serious when he said he knew someone who can actually find it. You know things about Atlantis that he doesn’t. You can judge the new information for yourself as true or not.

If you can get that far...

The door to the room opens for the third time today and Jongin enters for the second. He walks in wordlessly and sits in the chair that Baekhyun previously occupied, after turning it around. He unravels the wrapping around your head gently, and discards it in a bin at his feet. You watch his face closely as he works.

He’s extremely attractive. Had you not been in this situation and literally captive aboard the ship he works, you could have seen yourself trying to get with him.

You flinch when the antiseptic touches what must be the open wound. He mutters out a soft, “I’m sorry” and the simple words wash over you like cold water. He works under Baekhyun, who is a total bastard and will die at your hands one day _you swear to whatever God may be listening_ , but the kid hasn’t _directly_ tried to hurt you.

As far as you can tell he’s nearly harmless. Hell, he went down with a single _push_ when you attacked him. You wonder what his position is on the ship. First mate? Surgeon? Whatever he does, and no matter how harmless he may seem, you know not to let your guard down too much. To his caring words, however, you offer your own soft, “It’s okay.”

He catches your eyes, surprise brightening the pretty brown of his. He smiles slightly. “Watch my finger,” he instructs quietly.

You follow it with your eyes and try not to move your head. You know how this test goes. He hums, seemingly satisfied. “You’re not concussed, but you should still take it easy.” He glances at your cuffed and chaffing wrists. “As much as you can anyway,” he adds sadly.

You furrow your eyebrows in genuine confusion. Either he is a very _very_ good actor, or he is in the wrong fucking profession. He’s too soft to be a pirate…but you also thought the same about Yixing when he asked to join your crew. You’re tempted to ask him about how he knows your quartermaster, but the words die on your tongue as he picks up the bread at your side and lifts it to your lips. He nudges it closer to your closed mouth, encouraging you to take a bite.

He sighs when you continue to stare at him like he’s insane. He breaks off a piece and eats it himself. “It’s fine. Kyungsoo made it yesterday.”

You hesitantly take a bite and feel a bit uncomfortable at the unadulterated joy he seems to get by watching you eat. You take a bite of everything he brings to your mouth. He silently feeds you and you silently eat and drink until everything is gone. “Thank you…” you mumble, a bit unaccustomed to the caring attention.

He smiles fully and his face lights up. He looks years younger. “You’re welcome.” He gathers the medical supplies and empty dishes, and with a final gentle smile and nod of his head he leaves you in silence once again.

* * *

Jongin comes into the room with breakfast, early the next day. You shake off the sleep that you were finally falling into. It’s hard to get much sleep when your body is stuck in a position like the one they've left you in.

The exhaustion sits heavily over you, but at the very least you aren’t dying of hunger or thirst any longer. Your hair itches; you sweat through the night and can feel your clothes clinging to you grossly. You can feel the bags under your eyes getting heavier with each passing minute.

He looks at your pitiful state with a sigh as he sits again at your side; his hands holding a bowl of what looks like a basic porridge. Last night you kept your mouth closed and let your own questions fester in your mind, but today you think that you may be able to get _something_ out of the man in front of you.

It’s not like you have anything to lose. At worst you’ll be taken to the brig, but even that is better than another night unable to sleep like this.

You decide to start innocently. “Where did your Captain sleep last night? I’m assuming that I’m in his bed; he didn’t come back here.”

He looks at you with wide eyes. “Baekhyun? He’s been sleeping with the crew. He shares a bed with Sehun; it’s really cute,” he shares with a smile on his face. He lifts the spoon of the porridge to your mouth and you take the spoon between your lips.

You didn’t ask him for all of that other information; you don’t even know who Sehun is. You continue with the next logical question. “Sehun is…?”

“Sehun works with the maps,” is all he says. You hum.

He brings another spoonful to your mouth as you think of how to word your next question. “Are we still headed to turn me in for a bounty?” you ask, adding a slight tremble to your voice to hopefully pull on his heartstrings.

He looks at you quickly, nervously. His answer is a wordless shrug.

“Please, it’s my life on the line. I can’t even know where I’m headed? It’s not like I’m able to get anywhere with my hands tied like this,” you beg. You rattle the cuffs for added effect. “You don’t even have to tell me where the destination actually is. Just if I’m going to someone who might kill me,” you try.

He don’t answer immediately, instead lifts the spoon again. You swallow the food and plead with your eyes whenever he catches yours. He sighs in defeat. “Captain decided to change course last night, I don’t know where we’re headed now. I don’t think you’re going to die.”

You sag in relief. Thank Poseidon.

Jongin watches your reaction closely at the release of the new information. “What did you say to him yesterday? When he has a plan in mind, he doesn’t often change course.”

You decide to share honestly. “I told him that he has the wrong person and that the price for the princess’s return to Atlantis is worth more than the bounty for her.”

“You’re not the princess?” he asks shocked.

“If I was really the princess do you think that I would lie about not being the princess just to save my skin and get some other fake princess turned in, and risk not only getting an innocent killed but also potentially myself?” you ask.

He squints at you as he processes the poorly worded question. “I mean…probably.” The spoon is brought again to your lips. “If you’re not the princess, then who is?”

You shake your head. “I can’t tell you that, kid. I told her I would keep her identity a secret, and that I would get her home safely. That’s all I can tell you.”

“So you’re just trying to get her home safely?” he asks thoughtfully. “That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“What about the money?” he asks skeptically.

“I don’t care about the money. She means a lot to me, and her safety comes first. If I can ensure that I can get her home where she belongs, then I would give up all the money in the world.”

You end up eating three more spoonfuls as the words settle between you both. You begin to worry that maybe he doesn’t believe you at all and will ignore all that you’ve said to go about his day. You’re counting on him bringing this information back to Baekhyun. There’s a 99% possibility he’s meant to gather information as much as he is supposed to feed you.

You finish the porridge; he looks at the bandages around your head. “I’ll be back later to check on your wound,” is all he says. He stands and leaves the room without another word.

You exhale heavily and pray to the Gods that they’re on your side and can help you get out of this alive, with the way to Atlantis, and minimal damage.

Boredom sets in as you’re rocked with the ship alone in the room. Left with nothing but your thoughts, you try to think of an escape plan.

If you are no longer headed to the bounty then you assume you’re headed to his source. You close your eyes and try to think like Baekhyun. If you were in his shoes what would be your plan?

Figure out if you’re lying would be the first step. How else can he do that if he doesn’t take you right to the source and match up what you’ve told him with what the other person has?

But he could leave you on the ship while he meets with them; that would throw a wrench in your plan.

You need to guarantee that he’ll be taking you off the ship with him. You’ll sit in the meeting with him and then once you get the information that you want out of the source you’ll make a run for it. You’ll slam your head into Baekhyun’s and fight whoever tries to stop you…

A hair pin. That's what you need when you get off the ship. To free yourself from the cuffs. Seulgi taught you her little trick, but with your hands above you, it’s harder to free yourself.

And you’d still just be stuck on the ship with nowhere to go.

If you can escape him on land, you can find a way on a ship to Arae. You crew knows to meet you there if anyone is ever separated from the ship.

Memories of the sound of canons flood your ears. Your gut sinks. Your crew will meet you in Arae…if any of them survived the bombing that is.

* * *

Eat, sleep, be yanked over to a chamber pot to piss and shit. Eat, sleep, be yanked over to a chamber pot to piss and shit.

The routine gets boring extremely quick.

You count 14 days of being stuck aboard the ship. Only a few days ago were you upgraded from both hands bound to just one. Now you can maneuver yourself enough to go to the bathroom without waiting for one of Baekhyun’s crewman to hover over you as you empty out your body. You can even get a decent night’s sleep!

When you wake up feeling wetness between your legs and smelling the distinct smell of your menstruation, you curse profusely. “Guard! Guard! I’m bleeding!”

You toss the sheets off your body to take in the puddle of blood that has soaked through your pants and onto the light colored sheets of the bed. You watch the door open as a man you’ve come to know as Chanyeol sees the blood on the sheets and then quickly leaves with wide eyes.

The door closes with a slam and you hear raised voices outside. Baekhyun comes storming into the room minutes later.

“I swear to fuck if this is some kind of ruse,” the blood catches his eye and his nose scrunches up in disgust.

“I need some help here,” you say flatly. “I can’t get clean or fix this without both of my hands.”

“Jongin!” Baekhyun shouts.

The man enters the room frantically at the sound of his captain. He looks from Baekhyun, to you, to the blood surrounding you, and you watch the understanding spread across his features. He leaves with a rushed, “Got it.”

“What is he gonna do to help?” you ask angrily.

“He has two older sisters. You aren’t the only human who bleeds from their vagina,” Baekhyun responds bluntly. Two men enter the room with buckets of water and fill the tub across the room. Jongin comes back in with what seems to be a substitute for what you usually use when your cycle hits. You’re as shocked as you are impressed.

Everyone moves around with hushed words and hurried movements as you tiredly watch them with your eyes. Soon enough everyone leaves the room.

Everyone but Baekyun.

“You are not bathing me yourself,” you assert.

“Oh shut up.” He walks over and unlocks your hand. You cradle it to your chest and rub the raw skin. He motions to the tub, and you look between it and him. He rolls his eye and turns to face the opposite wall. You undress while keeping your eyes trained on his back. “Hurry up. I’m not going to look. I’ve seen you naked before, don’t start acting shy now.” He huffs to himself and crosses his arms.

You chuck your boot at his back. It collides with a satisfying thud. He moans in pain.

You sink into the tub with a smile on your face. The two of you inhabit the room together in silence as you scrub your skin with soap for the first time in weeks.

He sighs. “We’re headed to my Atlantis informant.”

You perk up at the sudden information. “Oh?”

“I don’t know if you’re lying or not about being the princess, but they’ll be able to tell me with certainty. Then I’ll figure out what to do with you.” You pause in your washing.

“So you thought about what I said then?” You feel smug.

“Don’t flatter yourself. I just want to know the truth before I turn you in. I’d rather not get killed because you decided to make shit complicated. If you’d just given up the princess then we wouldn't even be here.”

You sigh to yourself. “I couldn't do that. I swore a fucking oath. I have to get her home, and neither you, nor any other dumbass pirate lord bounty hunter is going to get in my way.” The water splashes as you scrub more vigorously.

He looks a bit over his shoulder. “Why do you care so much about getting her home anyway?”

“You’ve heard the legends, and you’ve seen it for yourself. The ocean needs her. She needs the ocean, she needs her _home_. I don’t know what will happen if she’s gone for longer than she’s already been missing. I know that you can sense how much more violent the waters have gotten. Ships go missing every day now. It needs her home, Baekhyun.”

You watch as his shoulders sag and his head tilts to look at the ceiling. Moments pass of nothing but the sounds of you trying to finish washing away the grime that built on your skin. “Are you done yet?”

Taking that as your cue to finish up, you stand from the tub. Dirty water drips from your skin.

You rip the bloodied sheets off the bed and put the time worn blouse you’d been wearing back on. “What am I supposed to wear? My pants are fucking gross; I’m not putting them back on.”

He turns to find you holding the sheet across your waist. “Sounds to me like you’re out of luck.”

“Baekhyun,” you warn.

He rolls his eye. “Just grab something out of the dresser. Don’t get any more blood on my shit.” He points a finger at you in warning. He leaves the room with a solid slam of the door; you flick him off childishly.

Alone again, you search through the dresser and pull out a loose pair of black slacks that look way too big to belong to Baekhyun. You have no luck finding any kind of underwear, so you settle for washing your ruined underwear and pants in the bathwater still sitting in the tub.

You’ll leave them out to dry along the edge.

* * *

Another 12 days at sea go by. You’re brought food and then left to your lonesome. You have minimal contact with the crew now that you’ve been allowed to walk around the room not handcuffed to the bed.

You only see Jongin when he comes to deliver your food and pick up the trash. The wound on your head is basically all healed.

Baekhyun comes in every few days or so to threaten you to behave or else he’ll chain you back up. “It’s a privilege, not many can afford, being able to walk around my room freely like this,” he says.

When you aren’t sleeping, you’re praying that your crewmen are alive and well and on their way to Arae recouping.

You know that you’ve arrived at your final destination after 26 days aboard Baekhyun’s ship when you hear sudden shouting about weighing anchor. Like a puppy getting the opportunity to go outside for the first time in its life, you stand and wait by the door to be summoned.

“Come get me. Come get me. Come get me,” you mutter repeatedly under your breath. When the door opens you hold in the exhale of relief you desperately want to release. Baekhyun enters with his eyebrows furrowed at you standing eagerly at the door.

Chanyeol enters close behind. “Clap her in the irons,” Baekhyun instructs. You hold out your hands in front of you with little more than a scoff in reply. The heavy weight of the metal brings your hands back down against the front of your body. Baekhyun walks behind you and blinds you with a thick cloth. He tightens it with a purpose and you grunt in discomfort. You can nearly hear his smile when he says, “Let’s go.”

The sounds of shouting across the ship and on the dock fill your ears. You attempt to catch any sound you can.

“That’s 50 dollars to dock for the week!”

“You’re a bastard John! Give me what you owe.”

“20 to look, 50 to touch.”

You’re relieved to know that this isn’t some abandoned island (again). And that you aren’t going to be left dead with nothing but the key to your cuffs (again).

You stumble forward blindly for what feels like an hour. The blindfold isn’t removed until you’re sat in a chair inside of some place you can’t distinguish by sound.

The cloth is taken away swiftly. Blinking away the confusion and sensitivity to the sudden light exposure, you look around curiously. It seems to be some antique shop. Knick-knacks and jars full of liquids fill the room. You’re sat a small table, Baekhyun sits lounging lazily on your right, and a woman you don’t know sits in front of you.

You look behind the woman and find Chanyeol blocking the only door to the room. Okay. This is doable. You glance around in hopes of finding something around that you could pick your cuffs with.

The woman looks at you with an unreadable expression for all of 10 minutes before her eyes drag over to Baekhyun. “Why have you brought this girl to me Baekhyun?” she asks. Her black hair shines in the candlelight of the room.

“I need to find Atlantis, and I need her to do that,” he says curtly. “First of all, is she the princess, yes or no?” Right to the point.

The woman looks back at you; you look at her.

“No…the sea runs through her, but she is not a child of the sea.”

Baekhyun looks at you and you suppress a triumphant smirk. The woman stands up, she’s tiny you realize, and walks to you. You and Baekhyun follow her with your eyes (all three of them) as she silently unlocks the metal around your wrists. They fall to the ground loudly.

You rub your wrist and blink back at her. That makes your life a lot easier…

Baekhyun lets out a sound of disagreement. “Come on Irene, you can’t just go around freeing people’s prisoners.”

Irene glares at him and he quickly closes his mouth. “You know that I don’t work with prisoners in my midst. She is a guest, the same as you are,” she comments. You bow your head respectfully. She places her neatly manicured hands atop the table. “Now, why have you come to me about Atlantis?” The question is directed at you both.

Before you can speak, Baekhyun has already begun. “What do you know about Atlantis? About the missing princess? About how to find it?” he rattles off.

“I thought you didn’t care about some stupid lost city,” you mumble under your breath.

She holds up a finger to silence the both of you. She stands gracefully, wordlessly and walks to the bookcase along the wall by the door. She browses the books, finger dragging across the worn spines, until she stops on a blue backed book just as old as the rest. She pulls it from the shelf and drops it on the table between you all with a resounding thud. Chanyeol jumps in his spot.

“Atlantis has existed long before human civilization,” she starts. She sits down and opens the book to the very middle. “It was created by Poseidon himself as a place on Earth where he could be closer to his element and watch as humanity began to flourish. His children rule the city as he lives among the other Gods. Atlantis is advanced far beyond our years and was lost to tragedy when they demanded that they be worshipped for their contributions to the ocean.

“They were the keepers of the ocean. They do not control it; the ocean cannot be controlled. Rather, they listened to her woes, her joys, her concerns, her anger, and they aided her in her troubles. They angered the Gods by demanding that the other humans worship them, although most of them were human or part human themselves. Their civilization was ravaged with destruction and hidden in the deepest part of the ocean, never to be found by humanity again.

“Atlantians age three times as slow as the average human. There have been stories of people from Atlantis coming to the surface, curious about humanity since its punishment, desperate to live among the humans; however, there are no stories of humans traveling to Atlantis since it fell. There are no descriptions of the city, for it is sacrilegious to discuss with a non native. Because of this, the existence of this city is still believed to be a myth by most of humanity.” She points to a short paragraph in the book. “There are no descriptions, but there is record of the Atlantian return song.”

“Return song?” you ask.

“A song that helps those who are lost find their way home. Only another Atlantian can lead you to Atlantis,” she warns. Her fingers trace the words as she reads. “ _Follow the sound of your soul, she’ll call out to you to bring you back to your shoal. She’ll fight you to prove that your heart is true, to crush you and build you back stronger in her darkest shade of blue. Beautiful songs will call out to confuse the path, to distract you, but remembering your heart will get you through. She’ll finally take you in her arms again, cradled and safe where all life began_.”

You sit with bated breath as she finishes the rhyme. Parts of this you knew, other parts you don’t know whether or not to believe.

Baekhyun asks, “And what about the princess? What do we know about her?” You feel anxiety ringing through your every nerve.

“She’s been missing for 20 years. From what we can tell, she left when she was still young. She has been called by many names, and there are even more descriptions of her looks. But there is only one description.

“Skin smooth and pale, like a pearl hidden far below the waves. Hair as black as the deepest part of the sea. Wide, round eyes, innocent as you can find. Small pink lips like a single petal sitting atop a calm sea. Blue etchings, like waves, will appear on her skin when she is returned home, the mark of royalty by birth.” She says.

You exhale shakily and turn to Baekhyun. “I told you; that’s nothing like me.” You attempt to joke but it comes out shallow to your own ears.

She continues on. “There are many names for those who control the sea: Poseidon, Neptune, Tefnut, Aegaon, Leucothea, Mazu, and Hydros to name just a few. We claim Poseidon as king, as the main God of the seas. Each of Poseidon’s children were created half human, and were born with a destiny tied to the sea. Whether it be to clean it, to create new life, to guide lives lost to the other side, they are taught their respective destiny from the day they are born.” Irene’s eyes lose focus. “The lost child…the youngest…ran away early in her life and has left destiny unanswered. She is destined to save _all_ the seas. That is why she is called guardian. Guardian of the Ocean.”

“Suho…” you whisper shakily.

She blinks and the focus returns to her gaze. She looks to you in surprise. “You’ve heard this name before?”

You nod and inhale. “Yes, I have.” You can feel Baekhyun’s gaze burning into the side of your skull, but you are too caught up in Irene’s words to care. “How would she be able to get home? Do you have any specific way to get her back outside of the song?” Your voice sounds desperate to your own ears.

Irene taps her nails on the table, “The ocean already wants her. It calls out to her. She must follow its song and the rhyme of her people to return. I fear if she doesn’t return soon then the ocean’s anger may be irreversible.” Her eyes lock with yours and you see wildness in them. The calm look she sported when you first met is long gone, replaced with insanity. Her hands grab yours and squeeze tightly, almost painfully. “You must do whatever you can to get _him_ back.”

“Him?” Baekhyun mutters at your side.

Irene stands abruptly and begins searching through all of the things in the room. You feel sick. “Him?” Baekhyun whispers to you in question.

You don’t get the chance to respond. Irene hands you a compass and a map with shaking hands. “This map will help you find your way to and from Atlantis when used with the song. The compass will guide you to the thing you want most in this world. Use both of these tools to aid you in your travels. It will be dangerous. Be careful traveler.” She squeezes the objects in your hands and shares her hope, her trust in you through her look alone.

You clutch the objects as if your life depends on it and stand from your seat. Baekhyun scrambles to his feet after you.

“Thank you Irene. How can we repay you?” he asks genuinely.

She shakes her head. “The promise of saving Atlantis is enough. That and bring this beauty back to see me once you’ve completed the mission….if you survive that is.” The wildness from before, the insanity are gone without a trace. She winks in your direction and you smile slyly in return. _Oh_ …

Baekhyun squawks in indignation. “Let’s go,” he grunts as he shoves you out of the room and out of the shop.

Once out in the open air again, you spin on him. “I’m gonna fuck your informant,” you tell him gleefully. He scoffs.

“She would destroy you.” He reaches out towards the objects still clutched to your chest when you jerk away from his reach. “What are you doing? Give them to me.”

“No, she gave them to me.” Chanyeol takes a step forward and you snap your eyes to him. He stops. “She handed this stuff to me, and _I_ have the princess. It’s clear as day that this is a mission for _me_.” You glare at him and he glares back.

“Well I’m the one with the ship and crew. We blew yours to smithereens, remember?” You sneer at him.

“Yeah and now we’ve just got to fucking hope that the princess survived!” you hiss.

He’s right, but you’re also right. You start to feel hopelessness sinking in at being alone. No crew, no ship, no Suho.

“Captain?!” you hear. You blink in confusion and turn around to look for the source of the voice. There are lots of people around. This must be a popular port. You frown as you take in your surroundings for the first time.

“Wait is this…” you squint as the buildings gain familiarity. You gasp.

Arae. Oh Byun Baekhyun you dumb motherfucker.

“Captain!” you hear again. You find Junmyeon in the crowd, running towards you at full speed. His body collides with yours and you hug each other as if you’re the only thing keeping the other alive. You sag in his arms, the weight of relief pulling you down.

“I thought you all died,” you whimper into his ear.

He pulls away and takes you in. “No, most of us are fine. They just damaged the ship so that we couldn't follow you. The mainmast was broken in half but we’ve been able to fix it while we’ve been here.” He speaks so fast that he runs out of breath.

“Most?” you ask.

He looks down and takes off his hat. “We lost a few men to the destruction.”

You exhale heavily. You’ll have to hold a vigil for your lost men when you all return to sea. You suddenly remember Baekhyun and Chanyeol behind you when Junmyeon nudges you with his boot.

They watch your interaction with wide eyes. You can see the gears turning in Baekhyun’s head. You shove the map and compass in Junmyeon’s arms with a bit too much force. “Take these back to the ship and don’t stop until it’s locked safe in my chambers.” He looks down at the objects in confusion. You steal the sword off his side and flick your eyes in the direction he came.

“Okay,” he says worriedly. He makes off with your new treasures and you turn your blade on the men left with you.

“Looks like things have changed boys!”

“Sounds to me like you still need some men for your crew,” Baekhyun offers slowly.

“No thanks to you. You’re the reason they’re dead.” Your face twitches in anger.

“Me and a few of my men could be of use to you right now don't you think?” You furrow your eyebrows. “You need some men and I know that you aren’t going to just pick a few men off the streets here. That would spark the attention of other pirates and then you’d be not only trying to get to Atlantis, but fighting off every man who chased after you for the princess. You need experienced workers, and I’ve got them.”

You curse under your breath. He’s right. You hadn’t even thought that far ahead. People talk, and if the _Storm Chaser_ is suddenly looking for men that puts you all in the middle of open season. They don’t have to know why you’re doing it or what you’re after, they’ll attack first and then figure out why after. You huff.

“Why should I trust you? What do you gain from this?”

“You shouldn’t trust me,” he admits. “And as for what I would gain…let’s say I’m doing this to appease my…curiosity,” he purrs. You grimace. “Also part of the reward money. Double what I would have gotten for the bounty.” He’s too bold.

“You’re the one with nothing to offer here. How are you trying to haggle me?” You scoff.

“Listen, I’m willing to work with you on this. I trust Irene’s words, and for some reason she thinks that you can get this job done.” He rolls his eye dramatically. “I’m willing to call a truce, and work together on this. Besides, me and my crewmen have our own debts to pay. We need this money okay? You can use me and my men however you need us.” You weigh his words and search for signs of dishonesty in his eye.

“How do I know you aren’t going to cross me and steal my ship and leave me marooned on an island?”

“You just _refuse_ to let that go, huh?” he growls. You lift your sword to his throat. “It’s your ship, it’s your crew. I just want the money and to see the city okay? If any of my men or I give you any reason to doubt our commitment to this cause, you can kill us.” Chanyeol squawks at his side. “After this is completed…well then I can make no promises. We can go right back to trying to kill each other.”

You ponder it. “Okay, we’ve got a temporary truce.” You lower your sword. “I hate to admit it, but you are good at what you do. We could use you and a few men.” He perks at the praise. “Don’t get a big head,” you warn. “I wouldn’t need to use you all if you’d just left my crew the hell alone like I told you.”

“We didn’t even-”

“Uh Captain?” Chanyeol’s voice cuts off whatever Baekhyun was preparing to say. He motions in front of himself; both you and Baekhyun turn around to see where he is pointing behind you. A woman with long bright red hair and red lips to match is approaching your group. “An ex?” he asks Baekhyun as the angry woman stalks over. Her skirt barely brushes against the ground, raising dust.

“No,” Baekhyun says just as you say “Yes.” You swallow and plaster on a tense smile.

“Joy…” You hope you don’t sound as nervous to see her as you feel. Her hand comes across your face in a hard slap. You wince and cradle your burning skin. “Okay yeah I deserved that,” you admit.

“Bold of you to show your face here after leaving me high and dry a year ago,” she fumes.

You smile sheepishly. “Sorry. There was an emergency and I didn’t have time to leave a note-”

Her anger melts into curiosity at she finally takes in the men behind you. “Who’s your friend?” Her eyes slowly look Baekhyun from his head to his toes and back up once more. He puts on his best smile. You try your hardest not to retch.

“Not a friend,” you mutter and she walks pasts you and starts to flirt boldly with Baekhyun. Chanyeol looks at you uncomfortably as they share flirtatious touches and smiles. You shake your head slowly to yourself in aggravation. You don’t care that they’re flirting, but you _do_ have a job to do, and your face hurts now. So you aren’t in a great mood. You manage to slide between the two of them as she laughs at something that he said that, objectively, wasn't very funny. “Joy, I’m really sorry again. I promise I’ll make it up to you the next time I’m here, but we,” you motion to the men behind you, “really have to get going. We’re already behind schedule.”

She pouts at you and then jabs a finger in your shoulder. “You’d better make it up to me,” she demands. You nod dumbly. She breaks out into one of her most beautiful smiles and kisses the corner of your lips. “I’ll see you around,” she looks behind you again and smirks at Baekhyun. “And hopefully, I’ll see you around too cutie.” With an air kiss in his direction she saunters off.

You exhale in relief. Baekhyun stands at your side with a cheesy grin. “I’m gonna fuck your ex.”

“No, she’s going to fuck you,” you correct.

“Potato, potato. This isn’t my first pegging, _Captain_ ,” he says.

Your breath catches. You fake gag to hide the heat you feel rising in your neck at the thought of Baekhyun being pegged by Joy. Or better yet the thought of _you_ pegging him.

“Chanyeol, go bring Jongin, Sehun, and Seungri here to board the _Storm Chaser_.” His voice breaks you out of the thoughts you feel immediate shame for having. Get yourself _together_.

You shake your head. “No not Seungri. I hate that guy and I don’t trust him.”

Baekhyun nods slowly. “I don’t either. Always hated the guy,” he agrees. He shoves you in the arm, hard. “See, we’re getting along already.” He turns back to Chanyeol. “Bring Kyungsoo instead. Kill Seungri while you’re at it.” He waves his hand dismissively. You hold back a snort. Maybe working together for once won’t be so bad.


	3. people cope in different ways

You both watch as Chanyeol runs off to collect the new additions to your crew. You furrow your brows. “You’re willing to just leave your ship and your men?” you ask.

He shrugs and starts walking in the direction of the dock. “It’s not my ship. I stole it and scouted a couple of men to help me man it. Jongin, Chanyeol, and Sehun are the only men I really consider my crew.”

“Oh,” you say quietly.

“They don't really need me, the other men. They can have the ship; they were bound to mutiny any day now. I wasn’t paying them shit,” he laughs loudly. You look at him a bit sadly and then conceal it.

What’s a captain without his ship?

In that case, you suppose you don’t have any reason not to take them on as your own. You grab him by the arm to stop him. “Alright, well let’s shake on it. On our temporary ally ship.” You jut out your hand and he takes it in his without hesitation. A solid handshake is all it takes to put the past aside.

“Let’s get this sea bitch home!” He chirps. You give him a tired look and he shrugs it off unapologetically. “What?”

You can see your ship clearly as you near the dock, and a happiness that you haven’t felt in weeks blossoms in your chest. You missed her. You missed her a fucking _lot_.

“Byun Baekhyun and the _Storm Chaser_ at the same port yet again. I wouldn’t believe myself if I didn’t see it with my own eyes.” You stop in your tracks as a group of three men walk up blocking your path. The man on the left is short and stocky. His skin looks like poorly cared for leather and a tattoo of a water dragon stretches up his neck and covers half of his face. The man in the center, the man who spoke, has a beard so long and unkempt that you can image a family of lice living there unperturbed for generations. The last man is the tallest of the three, extremely skinny, with a creepy smile gleaming with fake gold teeth.

You clench your fists. You just can’t catch a break being around Baekhyun can you? “You must be its captain, going around and stealing other ships to keep your identity a secret, huh? You must think you’re hot shit, you one-eyed fuck,” the obvious leader of the group says, beard lice landlord.

Baekhyun gasps dramatically and places one hand over his heart and the other over his eye patch, “Hurtful.”

You want to drive your sword through the man’s stomach for assuming Baekhyun, of all people, captain of your beloved ship.

It’s been months since you’ve gotten a chance to really use a sword, and with the way things are shaping, it looks like your drought may soon be over. The men train their eyes solely on Baekhyun, and you want to laugh at the fact that they’re completely overlooking the _actual_ Captain in lieu of having a pissing contest with Baekhyun.

Men make you sick.

You’d rather die than let Baekhyun take these kills and your title from you.

The leader takes a step forward and you reach for your blade. Baekhyun side-steps you and blocks you from their vision. Your cheeks flame in anger. “Hey now guys. Come on, why don’t we all just relax and go our separate ways? I need to get back to my ship. As you can see I’ve got company.” He jerks his thumb in your direction and you grumble low in your throat.

“I’m going to fucking kill you,” you murmur murderously to Baekhyun’s back.

“Screw you and your whore Byun. There’s quite the reward for you, dead or alive. And another even larger one for that ship there’s captain.” Baekhyun’s mouth turns down in a frown while yours turns up in satisfaction. You’re worth more than he is? A win for you. “We could kill two birds with one gun,” the man continues. His fingers twitch towards the weapon at his side.

Looks like a fight, you think happily. You grab Baekhyun’s shirt to pull him back so that you don’t have to worry about killing him in the crosshairs. Then again, maybe you should slice your way through him first.

He takes a step backwards to your side. “Slap me,” he whispers. You look at him incredulously. “Slap me and follow my lead,” he says a bit louder.

Whatever.

You strike him with all the strength in your body. You aren’t sure _why_ you needed to smack him but you aren’t going to turn down an _invitation_. The “Ow!” that falls loudly from his lips is genuinely angry. You almost think that the two of you are just going to fight to the death right here to save the idiots -trying to stop you from getting to _your_ ship- the trouble. The sting in your hand feels, so, _so_ good.

He cradles his cheek and his eye flashes angrily before he masks it. “ _Baby_ , what’s wrong now?”

You physically recoil in disgust. Baby?

His eye flickers to the side where the men are standing, seemingly amused by what Baekhyun is trying to paint as a couple’s spat. _Oh_. Realization hits and you jump into your role as the angry lover.

Honestly, you don’t have to try that hard.

“Baby? Don’t fucking call me baby. Why’s it that every time I find myself with you, someone is trying to kill us? Huh? I’m sick and tired of being dragged into your bullshit,” you exclaim. He scoffs, genuinely, or part of the role, you can’t tell. You poke him hard in his chest. “Don’t you think that I want to go out on a walk or go out to eat without…without,” you glance around and spot a woman pushing her child in a stroller. You take in a breath and place you hand over your abdomen. “Without fearing for me and my baby’s life?”

He blinks rapidly. “Baby?” You can hear equal parts repulsion and amusement in the tone of his voice.

“Yes, _baby_. I didn’t want to tell you like this, but of course this is how you ended up finding out. I’m fucking sick of this Baekhyun!”

“There’s no way that baby is mine. I’ve always used protection.” You raise your eyebrows in amazement. Now _that_ was a flat out lie. His lip twitches upwards.

“Are you calling me a whore?” you hiss.

He holds out his hands in defense. “I’m just saying in your profession I’m sure that you have to entertain lots of men and-” You pull out your sword and point it at his chest.

“The women who sleep with people for money work hard for what they’ve earned, and should be respected for their profession.”

“Don’t act too rash…” he takes a step back and raises his eyebrow minutely. You hope that is some kind of signal, because you don’t know how much longer you can go around acting before you actually drive your sword through his shoulder. “Think of the-” he unsheathes his own sword “Baby!” and hits yours away.

Your arm veers to the right from the impact. Purely from the surprise of it all, you swing your sword back at Baekhyun by instinct. He manages to block the hit. He swings back and nearly nicks your arm; luckily you manage to shift enough for it to swipe at nothing but air. He’s getting too fucking close for this to be part of the act.

You aim for his knee and he jumps back just barely avoiding your attack. “Now!” he shouts to you. It takes you a full second to remember that you aren’t actually supposed to be fighting Baekhyun, but the men still watching you both, fully distracted. You turn your blade on the man closest to you, the man with golden teeth, and swing it across his face. He screams and drops to his knees while Baekhyun drives his sword through the stomach of the shorter man with the tattoo on his face. You quickly slide your blade through the neck of the man on the ground in front of you and turn to find Baekhyun trying to fight off the larger leader of the group.

You run passed the henchmen you each put down, dropping the larger sword you grabbed off Junmyeon to the ground. You snatch the shorter knife on lice beard’s hip while he’s distracted and jump on his back, pulling his head to the side and slicing his throat open with ease. He collapses backwards and you let yourself fall to the ground first and roll far enough way so his dead body won’t crush you.

Your chest rises and falls with adrenaline and you wipe the blood on the blade off onto the thigh of your pants. Baekhyun’s hand lands on your shoulder, “Nice-” your knife drives through his side. “FUCK- why’dyou-shit!” You turn to see him holding both his hands over the shallow gash in his side. You throw the bloodied knife to the ground and stand up, still breathing heavily.

“Sorry,” you say flatly. “Heat of the moment… _baby_.”

“Oh fuck you,” he spits.

“Come on.” You grab his right arm and throw it over your shoulder. You guide him over to your discarded sword and he hisses with each movement. You let him lean on you as you guide him back, limping, to your ship.

“You did that on purpose,” he accuses. You bite your lip to keep from smiling too wide. “You’re smiling about it? I fucking knew it. You’re a fucking liar, what happened to the truce?”

“It’s not that deep a cut. You aren’t going to die from it. We’ll get you stitched up; stop whining.”

Despite your words, he whines all the way onto your ship. Yixing looks at you with raised eyebrows and you shake your head. “Don’t ask right now. Make sure everyone is aboard and let’s put some distance between us and land.”

Yixing smirks and goes off to get the ship in motion. You decide to attend to the crybaby leaning against you yourself. The infirmary isn’t far from the forecastle, where most of the living quarters are. You stumble into the room and let him go so that he can sit down while you search for the supplies needed to fix him up.

He moans pitifully and you shush him. “Shut up, you aren’t that hurt.”

“You aren’t the one who got _stabbed_.”

“I stabbed you with a purpose. It stings worse than it actually is.” Supplies collected, you kneel down at his side and lift up his shirt. “Hold it up,” you command. He grumbles but follows your instruction. You wipe away the blood surrounding the cut and work on disinfecting the actual wound. Just as you’d said, it’s not large. About as thick as your pinky and as long as your thumb.

He hisses for a long time as you wordlessly clean the wound. When he flinches so hard that he almost kicks the needle from your hand, you sigh and look up at him.

“Hold still,” you admonish.

You return your focus back on stitching the wound so that it will close on its own. It’s not a pretty job, but it will keep. You feel just the smallest twinge of guilt for slicing open his side during your truce, but it fades quickly at the many memories of the times he’s stabbed or shot you. 

Truce be damned for a second. He had this coming. You sit up on your knees as you wrap a dressing around his waist to cover the fresh stitches. As a way to silently apologize for going back on your truce, you treat him with gentle fingers and careful touches. You secure the dressing and sit back on your heels satisfied. You exhale softly and feel strangely proud of your work. You feel a small smile etching itself on your lips before you look up and catch Baekhyun looking down at you. His expression unreadable.

Your smile slides off. He lets his shirt drop down to cover the bandages, stark white against his tanned skin, and you feel a bit uncomfortable with the seriousness in his gaze.

“When you’re ready you can come out and we’ll have a meeting with all of the crew.” He nods and then avoids your eyes. You frown and leave the room a bit aggravated with his behavior. What the fuck is his problem?

Jongin comes up to you as soon as you’re out of the infirmary. “Is he okay? What happened?” He sounds as distressed as he looks.

“He’s fine. It’s a little cut. Nothing he hasn’t dealt with before.” You try to smile reassuringly but it comes out as a grimace at best. Jongin’s eyes widen when he looks behind you and he jogs off with a worried, “Baekhyun!”

Yixing leans against the newly repaired mainmast with knowing eyes. He gives you a thumbs up, and you resist the urge to roll your eyes. “Attention everyone!” you call. A circle begins to form around you. You take note of faces, those you know well, those you know are new, and the ones you know are missing. You feel sadness deep in your heart.

But the ship must go on.

“Everyone, we have added a few new members to our crew as we head off on our new mission. I know that our original plans were to go on that bounty hunt, but circumstances…changed.” You glance towards Baekhyun and his men all standing together. “I know that we have lost a few men in the last weeks, and we will be sending them off in the way that we know how later on tonight.” You watch faces fall across your crew.

“For now, I want to inform you all of our next course of action. I previously discussed this with Junmyeon and Yeri, and they have decided to join me in asking for your support.” You look over and see Yeri nodding her head. Junmyeon looks on tiredly. “We are going after Atlantis…again.” You expect the disgruntled murmurs and hushed whispers among your men. You continue on, “I know that I said we were done trying to find it, but we’ve recently come across some new information.” You motion to Baekhyun. He waves happily to your crew.

You shake your head in annoyance. “If you have any disagreements with our plan, feel free to come talk to me or Junmyeon personally.” No one speaks up so you push on. “Junmyeon, you still have the compass and map I gave you right?” He nods. “I need you and Yeri to make sense of the map as best you can; I’ll be there to explain some things in a minute.”

“Are we not locking Byun up?” Minseok asks.

You sigh. “No, he’ll just pick his way out like a little roach. They'll be sleeping in the crew living quarters. They’re a part of this crew during the duration of this mission; treat them accordingly,” you tell your crew. “As for you all, the rules on this ship are simple. You do your job, you respect everyone on this ship as you would yourself, and you don’t lay a hand on anyone in _any_ way deemed inappropriate. Break these rules and I will personally slice your penis off your body and force you to watch as it’s dropped into the sea,” you tell Baekhyun’s additions to the vessel.

“A-Ay,” Chanyeol stammers.

“That’s ‘ _Ay Captain_ ’,” you correct.

“Ay, Captain!” all but one repeats. Baekhyun clenches his jaw, refuses to give in. You wait with both hands settled on your hips. Your crewmen look on in a mix of amusement and apprehension at the rising tension.

“I don’t think I heard you Byun.”

He laughs in incredulity. Arms cross over his chest. “Ay, _Captain_ ,” he acquiesces. You tilt your head proud of his compliance.

“Alright everyone, let’s get moving!” You crew disperses and you follow Junmyeon with your eyes as he heads into your quarters chatting animatedly with Yeri at his side.

You feel Baekhyun’s presence before you hear him. “It’s him isn’t it? Suho. Junmyeon.”

You nod slowly, staring at the door where your first mate has gone. “Yeah,” you murmur. You know that Baekhyun is still missing a lot of essential information about Junmyeon, about Suho, about his life and how he ended up here practically co-captain of your ship.

You’ll fill him in at some point.

All in due time.

You don’t want to think about all of this quite yet, not with him, so you deflect the conversation. “What can your men do, where can I put them?” You scan the four men standing a bit shyly behind their former captain.

“Jongin was in charge of medical. He’s good with medicine and rigging. Chanyeol was our best man in the artillery and also worked the kitchen with Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo was our head cook, but is also well-trained with artillery and general sailing strategies. Sehun has good direction and ability to decipher maps,” Baekhyun rattles off.

That’s good. You needed these skills. From what you could tell, you lost your cook and doctor, Kun, two gunners, Jaehyun and Amber, and… Taemin. Each loss hurts a bit more when you think too long about their absence. You try your hardest not to let it show on your face. It feels sick to replace them with people that are responsible for their deaths.

“Kyungsoo, you can head to the kitchen. It’s under your control, we lost our cook when-” you suck in a breath to stop yourself. Chanyeol and Jongin wince. “The kitchen is all yours.” You finish lamely. “Jongin you’re in charge of our infirmary. Our cook was also our head doctor,” you say bitterly. He avoids your eyes and draws into himself. “I’ll tell Minseok to get Chanyeol and Kyungsoo acquainted with our artillery. You and Sehun meet me in my quarters in 10 minutes. We need to figure out our heading.” You turn on them before any questions can be asked and walk a bit dizzily to the forecastle and very front of your ship for a second to yourself.

You hadn’t gotten a chance to mourn the men you lost, and being hit so suddenly with their absence as you quickly filled positions they each held for years is painful enough to force tears from your eyes. You try not to cry in front of your crew for the sake of morale, but it’s tough to skip over the mourning process in order to get back to work. Everyone else at least had a month to properly mourn.

You get a few hours at most.

You wipe away the tears and try to gather your breathing before you have to face everyone in your quarters. You don’t want it to be too obvious that you were crying.

“Hey…” you sniff and rub at your face with the palms of your hands harshly. Yixing walks to your side and leans against the railing with you. He looks out at the expanse of water and gives you a few seconds of grateful silence before he speaks again. “You don't have to hide your crying like this. We all really miss them, you don’t have to pretend that you aren’t hurt.” He pauses. “You could at least choose a better location, you’re completely visible up here,” he jokes. You laugh a bit.

The wind blows and the ship’s sails flap.

“I’m just…it feels wrong to fill their spots like this. It was Baekhyun and his crew’s fault that they died. It’s his fault and now they’re just taking up their space as if nothing is wrong,” you wipe away another stray tear angrily. You understand that taking them on was the smartest decision given the circumstances, but it doesn’t lessen the feeling of betrayal.

Yixing hums. “You know…I don’t want you to think that I’m taking their side because I’m not. But…I don’t think they meant to kill any of our men in the attack.” You look at him in horror. How could he defend them when you all lost men because of them? He sets his lips in a line. “Their cannons were aimed at the mainmast to keep us immobile, and that’s where they hit. When it fell, it nearly hit Junmyeon but Taemin pushed him out of the way and it crushed his legs instead. He held on for a bit, but got sick on top of his injuries as we headed to Arae. He died in the infirmary. Kun got sick while he was trying to take care of Taemin. Pneumonia. We had to quarantine them both for days before they passed away. One of our cannons backfired when we tried to attack Baekhyun’s ship in return, and it took out Amber and Jaehyun. You and I both know how often that can happen in the artillery,” he explains.

You process his words and you know that, logically, all of these things were accidents, a series of unfortunate events and not malicious attempts at murder, but the irrational side of you wants to blame someone. To blame Baekhyun.

“I’m not telling you not to be angry, or upset,” Yixing continues. “I just want you to look at this objectively and realize that it isn’t completely their faults that we lost our men. Fate just…wasn’t on our sides.” He gazes at you with soft eyes. You can feel angry tears welling up again. He pats your shoulder. “Take a while to cool down, to mourn. I’ll tell Junmyeon that you’ll be a minute.”

Yixing leaves with a squeeze of your shoulder and you let yourself breakdown. The tears fall heavily and your chest tightens so much that it physically hurts to breathe. You could curse the sky, the moon, the ocean, but at the end of the day, it was just their time to go.

If Yixing truly believes that it wasn’t blatant murder then you have to take a second to separate your mind from your emotions as well. You can’t storm off and make their lives hell; you told your crewmen that these new additions are a part of your crew. You _all_ have to respect that for the time being.

You could ask anyone on your crew and you’re sure that they would tell you the same things. How they died, the circumstances. They’re truthful people. They wouldn’t recount it blinded by rage and hatred.

They will all tell you what they saw, just as they saw it.

They would say that it was all just bad timing.

Maybe that’s what upsets you most. 

You take a few more minutes to wipe your face and gather your composure before you walk into the Captain’s Quarters where Yeri and Junmyeon are crouched over the map and compass speaking in hushed tones. You can see the confusion in Junmyeon’s furrowed eyebrows and pursed lips.

“Does anything look familiar?” You ask smoothly.

“Vaguely,” Junmyeon says before he looks up from the table. He quickly takes in your appearance, and opens his mouth to comment, confusion on his face switching to concern when the door opens and Baekhyun walks in with Sehun on his tail.

Yeri opens and closes the compass. “Your compass is broken,” she says.

“It’s not broken,” Baekhyun corrects. “It supposedly points to the thing you want most in the world.”

“No kidding,” Yeri exclaims in amazement.

You avoid Junmyeon’s eyes as you project composure to the rest of the people in the room. He knows you well enough to know when something is wrong, but that doesn’t mean that everyone else does. “Yeah, that’s what Baekhyun and I were told when it was given to us. Is your home the place you want most in the world?” You ask Junmyeon.

There is a deep sadness in his eyes that only slightly covers up his concern. “I don’t know,” he admits.

“Well we’re kind of fucked if you don’t want to go back,” Baekhyun observes bluntly. Sehun elbows him in the arm to shut him up.

“I know…it’s been a very long time since you’ve been home, and I know there were reasons that you left. But I need you to look deep within yourself and tell me that you don’t still ache to return.” His gaze wavers under yours; he breaks eye contact first. “It’s okay,” you assure him, walking over to rub his back as he tries not to show the battle he’s been waging with himself for years.

He tries to hide it.

You know him well enough to be able to see it anyway.

“This was always the end goal, right? You _never_ have to feel bad for wanting to go home.” You try to smile. Yeri whimpers and throws her arms around him in a hug. Baekhyun and Sehun stand awkwardly to side while you all try to contain your emotions. This isn’t goodbye.

“Maybe you’d be able to come and visit again,” Sehun offers softly.

“Yeah, you guys are acting like he’s going to die if he goes back. People leave Atlantis all the time,” Baekhyun adds.

You grab the closed compass from the table and place it in your first mate’s palm. “Just think of home,” you comment softly.

He takes in a large breath and closes his eyes. You open the compass in his hand and watch it spin wildly from side to side before finally settling. Baekhyun peaks over your shoulder.

“Huh,” he remarks in amazement.

Junmyeon opens his eyes and looks down.

“Southeast,” you say in unison. Yeri motions Sehun to her side. They begin using the heading with the map you were given to chart.

“We’re going to finish this. I promise,” you tell the man at your side.

Baekhyun pushes between you both to grab the compass from Junmyeon’s hand. “Irene said that the sea wants you and that you should listen to her song to lead you home.” He plays with the device with deft fingers.

Junmyeon tilts his head to the side thoughtfully. “Song? I mean…sometimes I hear noises. Something like a melody. It happens randomly, at different times of the day and sometimes not for months at a time. It’s the same tune every time.” He laughs embarrassed. “I just thought it was sea madness or something.”

“We need you to figure out where it wants you to go. You’re the only one who can hear it and follow it. The song and a rhyme, they're the main things you need to get home,” you tell him. “I don’t remember what the rhyme was…fuck I should have written it down-”

“ _Follow the sound of your soul, she’ll call out to you to bring you back to your shoal. She’ll fight you to prove that your heart is true, to crush you and build you back stronger in her darkest shade of blue. Beautiful songs will call out to confuse the path, to distract you, but remembering your heart will get you through. She’ll finally take you in her arms again, cradled and safe where all life began_ ,” Baekhyun repeats the rhyme with ease. You look at him amazed.

Junmyeon murmurs the rhyme under his breath. “I-I think that I’ve heard that rhyme before…when I was younger. I’d forgotten all about it,” he says in shock. He falls into the chair closest to him heavily and begins to repeat it over and over to himself softly.

“Southeast,” you murmur to yourself. Junmyeon is the only one who can piece together the missing parts of his memory. The longer he’s away, the less he’s able to recall about his relationship with the ocean. Little pieces of memory, little parts of himself, all lost with time. “Yeri, can you work with Sehun and Baekhyun to figure out what we should expect to encounter?” She nods determined. Sehun gives you a decided look and you know that they will work hard together to piece together whatever they can with what little information you all have.

You and Baekhyun share a look. An understanding finally settling between you after all that’s happened, after all that’s been revealed. He nods. You offer a small smile in return.

* * *

After hours of discussion and blindly heading southeast, you all were finally able to somewhat crack the code of the rhyme and the map.

“ _Follow the sound of your soul, she’ll call out to you to bring you back to your shoal_. That’s clearly about the Atlantis return song. It’s the most important part of all of this. If we don’t get a better handle of when it appears and when it doesn’t we won’t get through the rest of the trails.”

“Trials?”

“Yes, there are three different trials masked in the lyrics of the song. The way back isn’t easy. If you leave Atlantis, you have to prove that you truly want to return,” Yeri replies.

You squint at the map now covered in writing.

“ _She’ll fight you to prove that your heart is true, to crush you and build you back stronger in her darkest shade of blue_ ,” Sehun reads. “It’s about a storm. A very big one by the sound of it.” He points to an area of the map with nothing but water. “You see this area? It’s known for its unruly currents and unnatural weather patterns. It ranges from snow to thunderstorms large enough to wipe out entire islands.”

Junmyeon grazes his fingers over the map, passing the spot Sehun mentioned and further southeast. “ _Beautiful songs will call out to confuse the path, to distract you, but remembering your heart will get you through…_ if we continue beyond the location of the storm we’ll be set to approach Isla de Sirena within a week.”

“Shit,” Baekhyun murmurs.

Yeri looks on in confusion. “Why shit?”

“Isla de Sirena is an island known for luring ships underwater. They crash ships among the rocks with song. They appear as the most beautiful creature that you can imagine; whatever you subconsciously find the most alluring. I don’t know how they do it. Different people can look at the same one and see different things; they trick you that way. Mermaids…sirens, whatever you want to call them. Freaky little bitches.”

“Baekhyun,” Junmyeon admonishes.

“What? They are!”

“So we’ve got to face…beautiful singing women? Oh no the horror,” you gasp jokingly.

Baekhyun pinches the bridge of his nose. “You are _so_ horny, and _so_ stupid _all_ the fucking time.”

“You’re one to fucking talk-”

“Children!” Junmyeon scolds. “Can we please hold off on the flirting until this is over?”

“We aren’t flirting-”

“Anyway!” You and Baekhyun close your mouths in embarrassment. “We’ve gone near Isla de Sirena, once,” Sehun adds grimly, eyebrows pitching angrily. “If you’re able to ignore their voices then you can see them for they are. They’re the ugliest creatures I’ve ever seen in my life.” He shivers.

“So what’s the final trial?” Baekhyun asks, back to contributing to the conversation and not being a pain in your ass.

“ _She’ll finally take you in her arms again, cradled and safe where all life began_ …” Yeri reads. A sigh. “We aren’t completely sure. It’s something about a rebirth?”

You scratch your chin.

“Maybe it’s about being drowned.”

Everyone turns their eyes to you.

“What?” you ask; your wide eyes look back at everyone staring at you as if you said something crazy. You point to the map in the general area where you think you all may end up. “There’s no land anywhere near here, and the city is underwater. Born from water, taken away from water, and then reclaimed by the water. If you leave, you must be drowned and reborn into an Atlantian again right? Why else would you forget your memories and connection to the sea the longer you’re away?”

“You are reborn in the place where life began…” Baekhyun mumbles. “You might be right. The final trial is a drowning of some kind. There’s a reason only Atlantian’s are the only people who can reach the city.” Baekhyun smacks you on the shoulder. “You’re not completely useless!”

You frown and hold your shoulder.

Bastard.

* * *

Candles cover the deck of the ship as the sun sets on the horizon. You watch somberly as each member of your crew places an object that reminds them of Taemin, of Amber, of Kun, and of Jaehyun in each of the four caskets meant to sail them to the other side.

Their bodies are wrapped in cloth to save everyone the trauma of facing their decomposing faces. Flowers, candies, articles of clothes surround each body with the things that made them who they were in life.

And will hopefully comfort them in the land of death.

Your most artistically inclined deckhand, Ten, places a portrait of each of them in their respective boat. An image to match the body.

“Jaehyun was always smiling; he worked hard as a gunner. He’d hoped one day to be master gunner of the ship.” Mark stands over the casket. “He uh, he never said much but he had the most imaginative mind of any person I ever met,” he says with a sad smile. “When the cannon backfired and killed him, it was quick, so at least he didn’t suffer for long. Farewell friend. I’ll see you on the other side.”

Luna takes over where Mark left off, standing in front of Amber’s casket. “I’ve known Amber since we were kids. She was a strange one,” she laughs. “She was very head strong and opinionated even when she was wrong. We both knew that working in the artillery was going to be rough, that it would be dangerous, but I know that she loved this job more than anything. She had a family with us, and she died where she would have wanted, I think.” Tears fill her eyes as she sits back down in the circle of crewmen.

“Kun…was like an older brother to me. He would tell me that I was getting on his nerves, but he would always take care of me…uh…take care of all of us in the best way he could. Every meal he served, every wound he healed, was done with care. Unfortunately, sickness isn’t as kind. He tended to Taemin with his last breath, tried to heal with all he had until he had nothing else to give. I’m going to miss him and his cheesy magic tricks.” Ten takes in a deep breath to keep his voice from wavering. “I hope he’s taken care of with as much love as he gave us.”

You can hear people holding back their tears. Sniffles and soft sobs escaping into the air every few seconds.

This time you stand as the representative to send off Taemin. You avoid everyone’s eyes and focus your gaze on his wrapped body and the trinkets around him. “Taemin was one of my earliest crewmen. I may have owned the ship, but Taemin was the one who knew best how she moved. He piloted with a grace and confidence I have still yet to achieve. I don’t have a single doubt that he’ll be able to guide himself to the other side without issue. He had a natural skill for movement.” You focus on an object nestled snuggly at his side. “I just hope he doesn't lose any of the things we’re sending with him the way he always loses his money pouches.” You manage a smile.

A couple of people chuckle softly, sadly.

“As Captain of the _Storm Chaser_ , I release the four of you from duty.” You raise your gun in the air. “I couldn’t have asked for braver, hardworking, and loyal men.” You fire a single shot into the air.

It rings through the night.

Everyone stands, begins to close the wooden coffins, and Junmyeon soaks them in gunpowder and oil.

You watch the coffins get lowered into the water one by one. As they begin to float away, you, Mark, Luna, and Ten line up along the edge of the ship.

“Ready,” you all cock your guns. “Aim.”

“Fire.”

The coffins alight with flames. Yixing lights a single firework and it shoots into the air and covers the sky in bright yellow sparks.

May these lights guide them on their future paths.

No one moves until the coffins are far out of sight, their flames no longer visible. Until nothing but darkness rests in the distance. With heavy eyes, and heavier hearts, you all pull away from the railing.

Those who were close to the ones sent away cry openly and you allow everyone the rest of the night to rest and mourn as they see fit. Crying, shaking, screaming.

People cope in different ways.

As everyone disperses below deck you see Yixing rubbing Jongin’s back as the two of them cry clinging tightly to the other.

You know that Yixing grew up with Taemin. Yixing had been the one to recommend him for the crew because of their shared history. Knowing now that Yixing knew Jongin at the same time, you realize that Jongin must have known Taemin closely as well.

Leaving them to console one another, you walk away.

The stories of their deaths, of their lives, makes your heart a bit less heavy. Knowing that they died doing what they wanted, and not because life was stolen from them in situations counter to their personality eases a bit of the pain.

Minutely.

It still hurts, but the anger is no longer there. Just sadness.

This is the life of pirates after all.

Junmyeon has hidden himself away somewhere on the ship, as he always does when he wants to cry without being found, so you make your way towards the food storage for a drink. You need it after today.

People cope in different ways.

The stairs creak as you descend. One of the lanterns is already on, bright near the liquor storage. It shouldn’t surprise you. You wouldn’t be the only person who wants to drink to numb a bit of the pain.

What does surprise you is who you find hunched over with his face in his hands.

“Baekhyun?”

His head lifts and you immediately take notice of the red in his visible eye and face in the dim lighting. He seems alarmed to have been caught. He looks away in shame.

You sit down in front of him.

The bottle of whiskey at his side is half empty; you reach for it and take a sip.

For your men.

Silence shrouds you both.

You feel the need to speak. To clear the air. Whether you are doing it for him or for yourself you aren’t sure. “No one blames you, you know,” you say so softly that it almost blends into the silence. You hope he doesn’t hear.

But of course he does.

He looks over with anger. “I never said it was my fault.”

“You didn’t have to. You’re down here drinking alone after a funeral. This screams ‘this is all my fault’ you emo fucker.”

He snatches the bottle from your hands.

“Look, okay. No one thinks it’s your fault. You heard the stories. Yeah, you guys shot my ship, but their deaths weren’t directly a result of that. Things went wrong; I will accept that it was just a shot to immobilize us. If any of us thought you a murderer, in this case, we would have hung you by your neck long ago.” You forcefully grab the bottle back with a frown. “There’s plenty of other shit for you to feel guilty over. Like the time you shot me…or stabbed me…or left me on that island for dead.”

“I swear to the Gods-”

“The point is…this one isn’t on you. You don’t need to carry this guilt. Not this time.” You take a quick drink. “ _If_ however,” you point your finger at him menacingly, “this _was_ on purpose, then I take all that back and I will kill you right fucking here I swear to the Gods.”

The bottle is taken back. “It wasn’t,” he admits, softly, angry. A swig. “It wasn’t on purpose,” he says again tiredly.

His honesty takes you by surprise. Baekhyun has killed just as many people as you have in your life. If he had tried to kill them, well that would be expected. But for him to be this affected by the accidental deaths? That’s surprising.

“What are _you_ doing down here anyway?” he asks.

“Do you really think you’re the only person on this ship who hides down here drinking? You’re talking to the _master_!” you boast. “And it’s my ship you ungrateful wrench.” You finish off what’s left of the whiskey and reach for a bottle of golden rum tucked securely on a shelf. Uncorking it with your teeth, you hold it in the air between you. “To Taemin, Kun, Amber, and Jaehyun!”

It burns like hell itself going down.

You hold it out for Baekhyun with an expectant eyebrow raise. You wait.

He grabs it gently. “To Taemin, Kun, Amber, and Jaehyun,” he repeats in a murmur. He makes a noise of pain as the alcohol burns its way down his throat. “What the fuck is this?”

You shiver as the alcohol settles uncomfortably in your stomach. “It's the bad rum I think.” You cough violently. “Oh fuck I think I’m going to die,” you say clutching your stomach.

His wild laugh echoes in the dark space. A bit of the gloom lifts.

You let your hands fall from your stomach while you take in the relaxed happiness on his candlelit face. His eye crinkled in a crescent, shining with mirth. You don’t think you’ve seen him laugh like that since the first time you met him.

He’s pretty. You’d have to be stupid not to admit it. From his soft and shiny hair, to his cheeks that bunch up when he smiles. From his big dumb ears to all of the little moles that dot his body.

The bottle goes back up to his ridiculously pink lips and he laughs as it hurts his throat just as bad as the first sip.

All it takes is a second of thoughtless, drunken courage for you to lean forward and quickly press your lips against his, cutting off his giggles.

When you pull pack, the happiness on his face has made way for shock and then once more to nothing.

“Don’t kiss me,” he says tonelessly. His voice is serious, but you see the spark of challenge in his eye.

Ignoring the part of you that always tells you that jumping headfirst into him is a bad idea, you lean in again, slower. You brace your hands on his thighs and feel them tense beneath your palms. He stares at your lips and you watch enrapt as his tongue pokes out to wet his bottom lip.

You can feel your skin vibrating from the proximity to him, and you freeze; a breath away from meeting skin with skin. Your eyes glance up to meet his and you can see the want, the restlessness, and something else you can’t quite place in the dark.

As if waiting any longer would be torturous, he leans forward impatiently to press his lips against yours. The bottle of rum falls to the ground and spills onto the floorboards of the storage room.

You don’t care.

You push harder; open your mouth to let his tongue slide against yours in a way that sends tingles through every nerve in your body. Maybe it’s the alcohol, maybe it’s the touch of sadness, but something feels different about this time.

You crawl onto his lap, driven purely by instinct and press every inch of your body against his. Heat seeps through your clothes and you pant longingly as he pulls you closer by your neck, his other hand grabbing you roughly by your ass. A wanton moan escapes your mouth and he pulls you closer, rougher. Breaths puff into each other’s mouths as you messily connect your lips over and over again. It’s uncoordinated. It’s wet. It’s exactly what you need.

You thread your fingers in his hair and yank his head back; diving to lick and suck along the column of his neck, to the sensitive spot behind his ear that you know drives him crazy. His grip on your body tightens as he releases a shaky groan and rolls his hips up against yours. Anticipation thrums through your body. To every noise, to every touch your body responds in earnest.

This is nothing but a distraction. For you. For the both of you, you don’t care. Neither of you have to think as clothes are removed. The sadness can be ignored as you claw against his skin and coax his tongue into your mouth. It’s all movement. All feeling. All lust.

People cope in different ways.

It always happens like this. You argue. You fight. You threaten each other. You fuck until you’re both exhausted and too tired to care about the years of hatred between you. For these few moments all you are, are bodies. Bodies moving in tandem, kissing the right places, touching the right spots, connecting at the right angle. Like this things are easy, wordless.

You each just understand how the other works.

Every movement is matched in urgency, in desperation. Touch for touch. Kiss for kiss. Sound for sound. Push for pull. Gasps, moans, whimpers are muted as best you can in the quiet of the storage. You don’t realize that you’re subconsciously avoiding aggravating the stitches that lie there, still fresh, in his side as your hands leave burning paths along his skin.

Just for now, you can allow yourselves to feel that maybe you don’t hate each other as much as you let on.

* * *

“Get your own fucking telescope!”

“Where am I going to get one? We’re in the middle of the god forsaken ocean; do you expect me to pull it out of my ass?”

“You should have brought yours with you if you wanted to use one so bad! That doesn’t give you permission to just take my shit whenever you feel like it. You aren’t Captain here.”

“Oh, bite me.”

“I’ll do worse than that. Seulgi, get me my pistol.”

“Captain I don’t think-”

“You think _you’re_ going to shoot _me_? _Chanyeol where’s my gun_?!”

“I’m gonna shoot you right in your last fucking working eye you dirty fucking son of a-”

A hand covers your mouth before you can finish your curse. “Baekhyun, you’re needed in the kitchen. Kyungsoo is asking for you.” You and Baekhyun share one last deadly glare before he stalks off and you’re released.

“What the hell Minseok?” You turn on your gunner, anger from your argument with Baekhyun being projected instead onto him. It has to go somewhere.

He crosses his arms over his chest, unbothered.

“So you’re in love with him right? That's why you’re acting like this?”

Your eyes bulge out of your skull. “I’m sorry, what did you just ask me?”

He sighs, grabs you by your arm and drags you all the way to the infirmary. You’re forced to sit down stupefied as Minseok stares at you expectantly. “The two of you are exhausting to watch. If you weren’t two of our most capable men we would have tied you both up and put you in the brig until we found Atlantis _days_ ago,” he says evenly.

You scoff, mouth agape.

“I would tell you to fuck and move on, but seeing as that seems to be what triggers a fresh round of arguments, I’m going to ask that you two _refrain_ from ever having sex on the ship again in the future.”

You splutter embarrassed. Your skin heats at having been called out so boldly. “W-what?! How- Wh- How’d you find out?”

“Any time the two of you have sex, you spend the next month or so telling all of us how much you hate him, how you’re going to kill him, blah blah blah. After a while you stop being as vocal about it, but then we make port, usually at Arae, and he happens to be there, then BAM we're back where we started. You’re obsessed with each other.”

You flush. “We are _not_ ,” you try to deny. His face is unimpressed. “I don't know where you got the idea that either of us feel anything but pure hatred for the other. Okay yeah, we’ve had sex a couple of times. So what? It doesn’t mean anything. I’ve had sex with half of Arae.” You cross your arms defiantly.

“As soon as this is all over, we’ll part ways...in 6 months we’ll go to Arae for a bit, as we _always_ do, you’ll have ‘angry hate sex’ yet again and then spend the next month being pissy over his existence. No one who genuinely hates someone spends so much time a) around them willingly and b) obsessing over them when they aren’t around,” Minseok says matter-of-factly. “I think you should both admit you’re in love with each other so we can _all_ move on.”

“Minseok!”

“I agree,” Jongin’s head pops up from behind the singular bed in the room.

“What are _you_ doing here?” you ask, heat again filling your cheeks at the extra witness to this interrogation.

“I work here?”

“I mean hiding behind the bed!”

“Oh…I uh tripped and then the door opened and you guys started talking and I was too afraid to get up and interrupt,” he says quickly.

You squint in judgment.

“This whole…” Minseok waves his hand around as he searches for the word, “…archenemies thing is getting old, Captain. If you really wanted to kill him, you would have done it already. And I’m sure the same goes for Byun. Right Jongin?” he turns to face the younger.

“Yeah,” Jongin agrees with a shrug.

You can’t believe your ears. “He just…hasn’t done anything worth actually killing him over yet. He’s useful sometimes…for information…” you murmur lamely. The excuse is weak even to you.

“You are both dumb and annoying…and also super transparent. Whenever you injure the other, it’s always in a place that won’t kill or do permanent damage. Don’t act like it’s just been luck that you’ve both managed to miss any kind of serious blow from the other. You’re both deadly fighters, you know how to kill someone if you want them dead.”

“He ditched me in cuffs on that island-”

“You had the key to the cuffs,” Jongin chimes in unhelpfully.

Minseok rolls his eyes at your words. “Yes, and again, in a survivable situation. Was there not food and shit on that island?”

You open and close your mouth pathetically.

“Exactly. It’s not like you’re an incompetent dumbass. You would be able to find your way off even if you hadn’t been found. He didn’t blow the ship to bits like he could have a month ago, you haven’t slit his throat like you could have _many months_ ago. You both dance around injuring each other, making the other’s life difficult, and fucking. You’re in love, please just accept it. I don’t care if you’re into BDSM and blood play or whatever freaky shit gets you guys off, but I would at least appreciate it if you kept it in your bedroom.”

Jongin nods from the back. “I just think it’s obvious,” he adds simply.

“Pff…Psh…Tch…I’m-I am _appalled_ that you would talk to your Captain like this.”

“I know, I know. You could have us hanged, shot, thrown in the ocean, whatever…but the fact of the matter is that you aren’t going to do any of that, and you know that we’re right. Now, I’m going to go make sure Chanyeol hasn’t shot any of my men with any of my valuable pistols, and I’ll leave you to your duties, Captain.” Minseok nods his head with finality and exits the room.

Mutineer…

You glare at Jongin for ganging up on you. He flushes timidly. “I’m uh…gonna go see if Kyungsoo needs any help…Captain.” With a nervous smile he dashes from the room.

This is mutiny…

* * *

The ship sails southeast for days before anything alerts you all of the impeding first trial. The weather is normal, the water is normal, and then all of a sudden, the winds become violent.

“Captain, I think we’re getting close to whatever the first test is…” Yixing says tremulously.

The wind whips around you and the sails of the ship flap violently. There’s no way to tell which way the wind is blowing from as it whips from what feels like every side simultaneously. The ship tilts dangerously to one side.

“Junmyeon…that song telling you anything right about now?” You ask anxiously.

Your first mate looks out on the horizon with worried eyes. “We’re going the right way…” is all he says.

“Helpful,” Yixing murmurs sarcastically.

There is no visible sign of a storm; nothing seems out of the ordinary outside of the unnatural winds. The crew is already reefing your regular sails and raising the storm jib and trysail. If the winds get any stronger, which they will, they’ll catch your regular sails and capsize your ship before the waves even begin to hit.

“Who can man the helm? Who’s the best pilot on board right now?” you ask Yixing.

Yixing looks around a bit panicked. “I don’t know… I don’t know Captain.” The ship lurches to the side.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck…” you scan the ship. Most of the men are working on preparing the proper sails, securing any moving parts, and making sure the wind alone won’t turn the ship on her side. You see Baekhyun working with Wendy on securing lose lines. You haven’t talked to him since your lecture from Minseok all those days ago. “Junmyeon, go check to make sure we have enough ballast in the hold. We’re going to be rocking and we need to pray that we have enough weight to keep us as stable as possible.”

He rushes away; you try to think of what else you can do to prepare. There’s no way to tell how long this storm is going to last, how bad it’s going to be, and you would rather prepare for the worst.

A sea anchor.

“Johnny!” The boatswain is immediately at your side. “Take whoever you need and deploy the sea anchor. We should have one somewhere in the hold. I need you to work fast, but be thorough.”

The ship is going to have to sail against the wind _and_ against the waves. The wind will push the ship off course, but to survive a storm like this the ship needs to keep its bow to the waves. If a wave catches the ship on her side or back, there’s no chance for survival. You’ll have to use your sea anchor and just pray that the Gods are feeling merciful.

“Baekhyun!” you shout. He turns immediately at the sound of your voice. “How good are you at the wheel?”

“I’m decent.”

“How’s your tracking? Your jibbing? Can you keep the ship from capsizing in this storm?”

He looks up in the sky when the sound of thunder shakes the floorboards. “My jibbing isn't the best, but I think I can keep her afloat,” he promises.

The feeling of static fills the air. The hair on your body rises to attention. Another rumble of thunder rolls across the ocean, louder than before. The sky is darker than it was 5 minutes ago.

There isn’t much longer until the storm hits.

“I need you at the wheel. I’m trusting my ship to you. Don’t let me down.” With a determined nod, Baekhyun is off. You see your first strike of lighting. Bright blue and not far off.

Chanyeol runs up to you to assure you that all of the cannons, ammunition, and artillery are properly secured. “Tell Minseok to get all his men below deck in the storm rooms. Secure any hatch and pray to the Gods that we make it through this,” you instruct. He nods and runs off.

When a storm hits, it hurts more than it helps to have people above deck. Three people would do the job just as well as all 20. Half of weathering a storm is the training and skill of the crew; and the other half is just pure luck.

The beginning patters of rain begin to pelt the ship. You run back up to the helm where Baekhyun has stationed himself.

The ocean gets choppy, picks up ferocity. The ship leans starboard. Baekhyun has never steered your ship, and truthfully, you have no idea whether or not he can actually steer through a storm. You’ve never seen him at the wheel of any ship in all the years you’ve known him.

“Do you think we’ll make it through this?” you ask.

“Honestly…I don’t know,” he admits. “We have enough sea room; we won’t crash into anything this far out. I just hope we can pick up enough speed before the waves start to grow.”

Junmyeon reappears, with Kyungsoo at his side, both out of breath. “We’ve prepared all that we can. The sea anchor is deployed, we’ve got a decent amount of ballast, the jib is ready to be backwinded, and the crew is all prepared for the rocking. What’s the plan?”

“Heaving to,” Baekhyun says simply. He swipes at his bangs, heavy with water and clinging to this forehead. “We keep the bow to the waves, keep close to the wind, and then lock the helm in place.”

“Won’t we broadside?!”

“No, if we were to lie ahull, we would broadside,” Kyungsoo supplies, blocking his eyes from the rain picking up in ferocity. “By heaving to, we can keep the ship from going parallel to the waves and capsizing. We’ll have to stay above deck to correct it if the wind or waves suddenly change. Since you’ve got a sea anchor we’ve got more chance of keeping the ship sailing straight into the waves rather than along them.”

“If heaving to doesn’t work, we try to run off downwind. As the wind increases we’ll have to slow down the ship as much as we can so that we don’t dive straight into the wave in front of us.” A bolt of lightning hits the waves. The rain gets harder.

“We would die…” You say unhelpfully. Lighting blasts in front of you and the waves crash angrily against the ship’s sides.

“Exactly. So if we run off, we’re going to need more than the four of us to throw whatever heavy lines you have off the stern,” Baekhyun’s voice rises to be heard over the increasingly loud winds and waves.

“As a last result, we’ll lie ahull and just fucking pray that when we capsize the ship holds for long enough to keep all of us alive,” Kyungsoo shouts.

You exhale shakily as another three bolts of lightning flash across the sky.

_Poseidon be kind to us all._

You leave Baekhyun with the job of steering the ship against the waves that grow in size and power by the second.

At Kyungsoo’s instruction, Junmyeon is in charge of keeping the jib backwinded, and you reef the trysail as soon as it becomes clear that it’s going to be a hindrance in the grand scheme of things. Kyungsoo stands at Baekhyun’s side correcting course when he gets thrown off balance. Baekhyun does the same as Kyungsoo is knocked to the side in turn.

The waves become brutal, rocking the ship so hard that it’s nearly impossible to keep on your feet for more than 10 seconds at a time.

The wind finally sets in a single direction, fiercer than anything you’ve faced, and the general direction of the waves becomes apparent. The ship rocks violently from side to side and then immediately forward and back. You’re thrown into the foremast by the unexpected direction change with enough force to knock the wind out of your body. You gasp in pain. You get up on wobbling legs and try to breathe even as the water falls so fast and heavy around you that it feels equivalent to drowning.

You can’t see more than two feet ahead of yourself.

_Think. Think._

There is rope at your feet, secured to the mainmast of the ship. You untie it with cold, wet fingers and hold it tight as you walk to the helm. The ship crashes into another large wave and you fall to your knees as water washes over the bow of the hull, covers the deck in freezing water and pitches the ship forwards. You stand up, shivering but determined. You tie the rope around your own waist to help you keep note of where you’ve come from.

Getting to the helm is a challenge, but you make it. Junmyeon is helping Baekhyun and Kyungsoo lock it in place.

“We should head below deck!” You shout as loud as you can. Thunder and lightning work in tandem to drown out your voice. To remind you of who is louder. Who has more power. You’re soaked to the bone.

Each man above deck is in a similar state. “We’re going below deck!” Junmyeon shouts. “We think heaving to may work.” The ship lurches dangerously to the right.

“Quick! Let’s go,” Kyungsoo screams, hair clinging to his forehead in inky black tendrils.

You use the rope to guide you. It feels as though you’re swimming through the air with the amount of resistance the winds and rain are putting up. Kyungsoo makes it to the hatch that leads below first. You follow behind, climbing down the ladder with shaking limbs. Water leaks through the boards, but it’s a welcome change from the brutality of facing Mother Nature directly.

You gasp for breath, finally able to breathe without also inhaling water, and look around the space for the ship’s emergency supplies. The ship dips, your stomach lurches.

Freezing water streams into the room from the open hatch above. You realize belatedly that there are only two of you in the compartment. Baekhyun and Junmyeon haven’t made it down.

You’re thrown to the ground when the ship dips without warning.

Clattering catches your attention as Junmyeon is swept into the room with a fresh rush of water. “Baekhyun fell overboard!” Junmyeon screams. He crashes against the ground. The sky screams.

_What?_

Kyungsoo turns away from opening the hatch down to a lower level of the ship to gape at Junmyeon’s words in horror.

Gasping, soaked, Junmyeon looks around the compartment frantically.

You’re moving before you have a chance to think.

You vaguely hear your name being called out from behind, but you don’t turn around. Rope still secured around your waist, you run, slip, stumble, over to the closest life boat. As fast as your shaking hands can work, you cut yourself free of the mainmast and tie the end of the rope not tied to your body to the dinghy.

You slice through the thick ropes holding the dinghy to the side of the ship with an urgency you’ve never felt. Water hits you head on, chilling you to the bone.

The final rope snaps and you and the dighy fall into the water with the force of landing on cement. Something is broken, but your adrenaline is pumping so violently that you can’t feel the pain. It doesn’t register.

Doesn’t matter.

You look around frenzied. The water is pitch black and moving too fast. The rain pelts your skin. It stings, burns, blurs your vision.

The waves are too big for him to survive out here on his own.

They’re too big for you to survive in your search for him.

The sky roars.

The waves crash, flip your boat once, twice.

You settle upright for the second time when, by the grace of the Gods, you see his white shirt illuminated against the dark water by a strike of lightning. You row frantically as a wave begins to swell. You nearly scream in relief when you reach him, but the sound dies as your heart sinks.

He’s not moving.

And he’s face down.

With all the energy you can muster, you pull him into your little boat. You take a few seconds you catch your breath, then you realize the height at which the wave has lifted you. It begins to cascade down; instinctively, you wrap your arms around Baekhyun’s unmoving form and brace yourself for the crash.

It’s dizzying.

It hurts.

It’s terrifying.

You hold your breath, close your eyes, hold onto the man in your arms with all you have, and wait for the water to stop jostling you around so violently. The water seems to calm slightly, so you open your eyes.

The water is dark, and then bright. Black, and then illuminated by lighting.

Your chest tightens as your need for oxygen reaches desperation. You maneuver yourself beneath the water enough to hold Baekhyun with one arm and swim to the top with the other.

You break the surface and gasp for air desperately.

You pull your rope and the boat appears at your side, thankfully upright. You lift Baekhyun aboard first, and then with heavy limbs, you topple on top of him. You don’t give yourself a chance to catch your breath before you’re leaning over him checking for signs of life.

You lower your ear to his chest. You can’t tell if he’s breathing. If his heart is beating.

“Come on Byun. Don’t die on me like this,” you beg. You repeatedly push against his chest, the way you were taught to restart a heart. After a few beats you press your ear to his chest again to listen for a change.

Nothing.

“Fuck. Come on…come _on_ ,” you pant.

You pinch his nose and lean down to cover his mouth with yours, filling his lungs with the air that he’s unable to take in on his own. His chest rises each time you exhale into his mouth. You go back to pumping your locked hands against his chest. A wave knocks you on your side. The boat stays upright.

You exhale into his mouth again, once, twice. You beg the rain to let up. You beg the waves to grow smaller.

You beg his heart to start beating.

He jerks and water spurts from his mouth. Relief hits you so hard that all the energy left in your body is expelled and you sag forward and land directly onto his chest.

You can finally hear the dull thumping of his heart. You can feel the shallow rise and fall of his chest.

At last, you can take a second to just _breathe_.

The small boat continues to jerk around, but it’s clear that the worst of the storm has passed. The waves now are shallow and choppy. The rain has lessened to nothing but a drizzle. The thunder rumbles farther and farther in the distance.

And Baekhyun’s heartbeat gets stronger.

You close your eyes, and let exhaustion overcome you, lulled into sleep by the beat of his heart and the rocking of the boat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew we have gotten like...almost halfway through the story now I think! I'll be back to update in a week or so. Sorry to anyoe who thought daily updates were going to be a regular thing lmaooo. I've been writing this while I wait for work to start back up here in China. In my absence I want to hear your thoughts. What do you think will happen next? What do you want to happen next? I'm flexible and if I happen to see something intriguing, I might add it to the story...
> 
> see you all in a week!


	4. why's all the rum gone?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is shorter bc I just wanted to publish it. Once i finish the next section i may delete this and reupload the whole thing i'm not sure yet. I have no idea why i was uploading this in larger chunks than on aff lmaoo. this chap is just cute and gross and fluffy

Darkness. Suffocation. Cold. Not breathing. He’s not breathing.

He’s not breathing.

_You’re not breathing._

You sit up with a start. “Baekhyun!” You gasp for air. Your chest heaves as you frantically try to breathe. The image of Baekhyun’s unmoving body begins to fade from your memory like a dream you can’t fully recall. Darkness makes way for the brightness that you are beginning to realize surrounds you. You don’t feel seasick; your body is still.

Panting, you look around.

A beach. Your heartbeat slows down when you realize that you’re sitting on a beach, alive. Alive and safe and the boat is pulled ashore.

But you can’t find Baekhyun. Panic rises again.

“You’re awake.” You hear from behind you.

You whip around, and there he is. Baekhyun stands on both of his feet, shirtless with an armful of wood.

And both of his god damn eyes.

Pain unexpectedly shoots up your middle. You groan loudly and lower yourself back down on your back. It doesn’t feel as intense like this. “Fuck,” you hiss in agony.

“You fractured your rib,” Baekhyun says, now at your side. You look at him through squinted eyelids. “It’s not broken, and it’ll heal on its own. You’ve just got to take it easy for a while,” he instructs you softly. You catch a glimpse of concern in his eyes.

His fucking _two_ eyes.

“You’ve got more than one eye…” you croak dumbly. With each inhale of breath the pain begins to subside.

He blinks and the concern that you think you saw vanishes. “Yeah, and you’ve got fractured bones. Now we’ve both stated the obvious.”

He stands up and walks off while you struggle to sit up without experiencing more shooting pains. It doesn’t work out well; any move to raise your body sends another painful jolt through your body. From experience, you can tell that it’s your lower left rib that’s injured. That’s where you experience the most pain. Breathing doesn’t hurt; you chalk it up to luck that you didn’t puncture a lung in the process. In… _all of that_.

Your throat begins to close up at the memory. The rain. The waves. The cold.

_He’s not breathing._

A decently sized canteen drops into your lap. You jump in your spot. “You’re dehydrated,” is all Baekhyun says before he walks off again.

You follow his retreating figure with your eyes. “Thanks,” you rasp to yourself.

Surprising yourself, you’re glad to see that he’s fine. That he’s _alive_ despite the _years_ you’ve spent wishing him dead.

It takes a bit of time, and a lot of moaning and hissing, to open the canteen. You nearly cry when you’re finally able to feel the water sliding down your throat. You drink it greedily.

What if this is all the water you’ve got?

You stop and pull the lip of it away from your mouth. You drank half of it in just 3 seconds.

“You can finish it,” you hear Baekhyun say from where he’s crouched by the wood. “There’s more on the island, we won’t go thirsty for a while.”

Without further hesitation you drain the rest. You’re still thirsty, but at least now you can talk, and maybe even stand without passing out. Like a baby learning to walk on its own, you slowly lift your body off the ground and on to your knees.

Baekhyun watches you closely, but does nothing to help. Once you’ve caught your breath again and are comfortably sitting on your knees, he stands up. He pulls on his shirt and then starts in the direction of the tree line. He pauses, turns to you and jerks his head towards the trees. A silent beckoning.

With a breath to prep you for the pain, you force yourself on your legs.

After only a _few_ seconds of dizziness, your visions clears and you take careful steps in his direction.

Baekhyun waits until you’re only a step behind him to start walking forward again. There seems to be a clear path to wherever he’s leading you. You’re thankful that you don’t have to duck and dodge branches with your fractured rib.

Actually, the more you think about it, the path is _suspiciously_ cleared of obstructions. You frown and look around. It’s clear as day that branches have been broken off recently. Maybe Baekhyun was going to use it for the fire?

You squint at the ground and see broken pieces of tree along the ground. So, not firewood. Path wood?

Why would he need to do that when he can just push them out of the way? The ground is flat even without the branches he’d torn down. It seems kind of unnecessary.

Your foot catches on a divot in the ground and your body stumbles half a step too far just fast enough to cause a pain to shoot up your side. You bite back a pathetic whine and notice belatedly that Baekhyun is hovering right at your side anxiously. Your eyes water instinctively at the smarting in your torso.

You let out a shaky breath and straighten up. “Fuck.”

He frowns.

“We’re almost there.” A beat of silence. And then, “Watch your step dumbass.”

Your rib prevents you from fighting back. You don’t think you would really want to even if you could. You trod behind him dutifully. The forest is full with the sounds of life, but the conversation between the two of you is dead. Painfully so.

“How long have you been awake?” you ask to fill the silence.

“A few hours. I looked around the island while you were unconscious.”

You hum. You wonder whether the boat washed up on its own or if he rowed here in your sleep.

To your surprise he continues on. “It’s an old prison island from the looks of it. I came across the jail and a bunker when I was gathering firewood.”

“Were there people in the prison?”

“Not living ones.”

“Gross.”

Silence.

“Thanks…by the way,” he says gently. Oh? Is that…a thank you you’ve heard?

“What was that?” you goad.

“Don’t make me say it again…”

“Do you mean for saving your life? Are you thanking me for that? For being a heroic, brave, sexy, strong-”

“I should have thrown your body into the ocean when I woke up.”

You laugh softy, carefully. If you breathe _too_ hard then your rib smarts again.

“How’s your rib doing?” he asks.

“Hurts.”

“Okay smartass-”

“I’m serious!”

A beat.

“How are your stitches?” you ask.

“Hurts.”

“Listen here-”

He laughs. A full one. A bright one.

You shuffle behind holding back a smile. A building comes into view after a few minutes of walking. He was right; it’s obviously an old prison if the dreariness of it is anything to go by. It’s a small one. You follow him through broken doors, barely hanging onto their last hinge.

It reeks of death.

A chill runs down your spine.

Avoiding the actual prison cells, the two of you walk right to the guard room. Light streams through the window and you can see that the place was left in a hurry. There is still a lot of junk strewn around. It smells of moldy water. Maybe the place was hit by a hurricane.

You walk over to the desk and pull out a drawer. Matches, pens, an old pipe. You pocket the matches and check each drawer for anything of use while Baekhyun does the same across the room.

Most of the things you come across are entirely worthless, but you do find a fully loaded gun and a dusty flare.

The finds remind you that you didn’t grab anything when you jumped off the ship. _Reckless. Thoughtless_. But the realization that you don’t regret it is humbling.

Quickly you pat your body to see if you happened to bring anything of use. Your smallest blade sits reliably on your hip, and your gun still happens to be in its holster.

The compass.

You unhook it from your hip and stare at it disappointedly. Useless.

The sound of glass crashing across the room alarms you.

Baekhyun stands next to the shattered object with startled eyes and a wince frozen on his face. “Can you be quiet?” you whisper harshly.

He relaxes and rolls his eyes. “There’s no one alive here,” he reminds. “It’s not like we’re going to get in trouble.” His voice is as low as yours.

“Then why are you whispering?”

“Because you’re whispering!” He whispers back in frustration.

You cock an eyebrow.

“Shut up,” he says at normal volume. He steps over the glass with his hands on his hips and his lips jut out in a disappointed pout.

Clearly there’s nothing else of value in here.

“Do you know where the kitchen is?” you ask quietly.

“Yeah, come on.”

You travel through the halls wordlessly. The dripping of water punctuates every other second that passes. Your boots slosh through puddles of dirty water.

The silence of the jail feels more oppressive than anything else you’ve ever felt in life. It puts you on edge. You won’t say it scares you. Not when you’ve faced death itself countless times in your life. But if a fucking dead body comes back to life to eat your heart, you will _not_ be responsible for your actions.

You are not beyond tripping Baekhyun so that you can get away.

In the kitchen, you split up to look for anything that can be salvaged. There are cans of food, packages of dried meats and fruits. The food left in the broken fridge is rancid, and rats crawl around on the floor. You would probably be better off just hunting and fishing on your own.

The floor creaks awkwardly under your foot as you close a cabinet with metal serving dishes; you look down. There’s a catch in the floor.

A door.

“Hey,” you hiss. You motion to your side when Baekhyun looks up from snacking on a bag of dried bananas. “Can you lift this up for me?” you ask.

He pads over and looks down in confusion at the spot near your foot. His jaw freezes in the middle of chewing as interest spreads across his face.

When he reaches down, the door squeaks open with a severity that hurts your ears. It’s pitch black below.

You dig the matches out of your pocket and lower yourself carefully, closer to the entrance. You strike a match and it dimly illuminates a bit of the space. An oil lamp hangs not far from the top.

Once lit, the lamp brightens up the hidden room.

A ladder.

Despite the burning in your torso you begin to lower yourself down farther.

An hand lands on your shoulder to stop you. “What are you doing?” Baekhyun whispers.

“I’m investigating. There’s no one here remember?” you mock. You shrug off his hand and scale down the short ladder. Another lamp awaits at the bottom. You strike another match and the full room comes into view.

You smile. “It’s a liquor storage.”

“What?”

“It’s a liquor storage,” you whisper a bit louder.

“What?!” he calls louder.

You inhale angrily. “IT’S A-”

“I heard you the first time. Quiet down,” he laughs from above. You hear him jump down into the small space. He looks around appreciatively.

“Party on the beach. Better than dying stranded and sober I guess.”

Baekhyun grabs a few bottles and places them outside of the little room. You attempt to grab a bottle of bourbon that’s caught your eye a bit above your head.

You’ll have to stretch for it.

Bracing yourself for pain, you suck air through your teeth. But before you can lift your hand above your head, a warm body is pressed against your back and the bottle is pulled from your vision. You blink dumbly and once the solidness of his chest vanishes from your back, you turn to face him.

“What part of ‘take it easy’ don’t you understand?” Baekhyun scolds you, the bottle of bourbon you were going to grab cradled in his arm. He exhales in exasperation. “I’ll carry this stuff back. Just…stop doing shit that will hurt your fracture.”

“Aw Baekhyun are you worried about m-”

“If you actually break your rib I’m not going to help you fix it and you can die on this island immobile.”

You quiet.

“Fine.”

Baekhyun ends up carrying all of the heavy items found on your search back to the beach where you’d washed up. You trail behind him, mind shrouded in confusion, and a bit of worry. When did he start to care about your injuries?

He puts down the sheet, that he’d used the carry everything over, with an exhausted puff of breath.

Wordlessly you both begin to set up camp.

Baekhyun works on getting a fire started as the sun begins to lower in the sky, and you spread out the cloth so that you’ll have a buffer between your bodies and the sand when you sit down or sleep.

You take stock of all of the supplies that you’d collected while he continues to nurse dim embers to life. You’re happy to see that he’d found a second flare in his search.

The sky and the ocean are calm, cruelly so, as the two of you settle in front of the growing fire. When the sky is blanketed in black and stars begin to make themselves known, you light the flare that you’d grabbed from the prison. It illuminates the sky briefly and then fades away. Hopefully your ship sees it.

The night is warm, and the fire crackles excited between you. You on one side of the fire and Baekhyun five feet away.

Baekhyun munches on a package of dried meat he’d collected, and you struggle to open a bottle of rum with your teeth. It uncorks with a satisfying ‘ _pop_ ’.

You take a large swallow and feel is settling, warm, in the pit of your stomach.

When you hold it out towards Baekhyun, he only looks at it, and then trains his attention back to the fire.

You shrug and take another swig. You smack your tongue against the roof of your mouth loudly to show your satisfaction.

“Okay fine. Hand it over.” You smile gratuitously as he takes the bottle and takes a drink for himself.

The alcohol relaxes your muscles and you feel the urge to start talking. “So…two eyes huh?”

You name falls from his lips in warning, telling you to drop it. You raise your hand in mock defeat.

You think maybe the alcohol is making him want to talk too. Or maybe it’s the silence. “…Why do you keep calling Suho a princess?”

“Huh?”

“He’s a prince,” Baekhyun states. He shifts in his spot and turns his body to face you. “He’s the _Prince_ of Atlantis, but you’ve been calling him a princess even though you know that he’s not a girl.”

You shrug. “The stories…they originally just called him the lost child of Atlantis.”

“Yeah…”

“I don’t know when people started to just assume the lost child was a girl. It helped to keep his identity hidden that way even if it was wrong. If everyone was out looking for the _Princess_ of Atlantis, they wouldn’t give a second thought to a man who fits the description. After a while it just became second nature to refer to him like that, to continue to talk about him as a little missing girl rather than who he actually was. Suho is a princess, and Junmyeon is a member of my ship. They weren’t the same person in my head.”

Baekhyun hands you the rum. For the same reason that you keep your own identity a secret, your crew decided to keep Junmyeon’s. Sometimes you gain an advantage by letting people assume what they want.

“Did you find out on your own that he was the princess- the prince?”

You smirk. “Your curiosity finally won out huh?”

He pelts a stick at your arm.

He waited longer than you expected –you’ll give him that.

“Since you are _so curious_ I guess I can tell you.” He picks up another stick. “Anyways! He came up and told me. Introduced himself to me that way, the dumbass,” you laugh at the memory. “It was… _years_ ago. Right as I was starting to find people to join my crew. He just walked up to me while I was sitting in the corner of a bar and slid one of my ‘Man for Hire’ posters across the table. This scrawny guy, soaked from head to toe. He looked exhausted but there was something in his eyes that I’d never seen before.” You look into the fire as you try to recall the details of that night.

“He told me that he wanted to hire me to get him home. I’m pretty sure I laughed right in his face. He sat down at my table, dropped a _heavy_ bag of money between us, and said, ‘I can get you more money than you can imagine.’

“‘ _Okay I’ll bite. What’s the deal?_ ’

“‘ _Have you ever heard of Atlantis?_ ’” you repeat the words from the exchange and then pull your gaze from the fire to meet Baekhyun’s. “He went on to tell me that he was a prince and that he’d run away a few years before. He was ready to return, but he had no idea how to do it. He’d left because his family and his people were pressuring him about his destiny and the role he had to fulfill to save the kingdom and he just...panicked. He was just a teenager, you know? He was scared, he wasn’t ready, and so he ran away. He fled and then lived on land among humans for long enough that the connection he’d had with the ocean had dimmed. He couldn’t find his own way home, and they couldn’t come find him, even if they wanted to.” 

Baekhyun frowns. You take a drink, pass him the bottle, and continue on.

“I didn’t believe him at first, but decided to do what I could. Our relationship started out like that, with me trying to get him home. After some time he just decided to be on my crew. We would find crewmen, do other jobs to pay for our expenses, and then continue to look for Atlantis. Over time we gained more men, we lost even more, but he was always there at my side as my first mate. As my first crewman.” You smile fondly and play with the sand at your side. “Soon enough, finding Atlantis became an…afterthought. It wasn’t our priority anymore. We went on other adventures, faced other challenges, and strengthened the family we built aboard the ship.

“He said he was fine not finding his way home anymore after a few years of looking. But the way he looks out at the sea sometimes…” Memories arise of him leaning against the side of the ship and looking out at the expanse of the ocean longingly. “It’s heartbreaking.”

You don’t realize that your eyes are starting to water until a tear falls against the back of your hand. You swipe away the moisture and paste on a smile. Baekhyun’s expression is one of empathy. “I know that he misses the sea; I know that he misses home no matter what he says to deny it. I promised him that I would get him back, once. He laughed at me, but I meant it. He’s like my family, but his happiness comes before anything else…even if I have to give him back to the sea.”

Your words settle over you both like a heavy blanket. Your own heart tugs a bit at the memories and realization that you really may be giving him up soon. If they find you on this island and you continue on your quest. You’ll be giving up the person who’s been at your side longest.

“You love him,” Baekhyun states.

His words startle you. You look at him with widened eyes and try to read his expression, or at the very least the intention behind his words. It’s carefully concealed behind neutrality, but you can see a bit of the uneasiness in his eyes. You don’t know what comes over you. Why you want to see his reaction to your words so badly. Why you hope that it’ll _bother_ him –even if it’s just a little.

You keep your gaze steady when you respond. “Yes.”

A glimpse of offense is all you catch as evidence that you words may have affected him, but it could have been a trick of the light from the fire. He rolls his eyes and takes a long swig of the rum, no longer looking you in your eyes.

“I love him the way I love every member of my crew,” you press on cautiously. You catch the stillness in his throat as he stops swallowing for half a second. Satisfaction thrums through your body. Why? Why? You don’t know for sure yourself. “Everyone on my crew is my responsibility, and with that comes a level of love and respect that we’ve all worked hard to build. Like I said, the men and women on that ship are my family. We wouldn’t work as well as we do if we didn’t love each other just a little bit. Thinking that you can’t love your shipmates just because you’re a pirate and you kill people is old fashioned. Love solidifies a bond like nothing else. We would risk our lives for each other…that goes for us with you and your men too.”

The fire pops loudly.

He wipes away a drop of alcohol from the corner of his lips and gives you a measured look. You watch as he figures out how to form the question he wants to ask next. You hold out your hand for the bottle.

He passes it, and if your hands faintly brush –neither of you mention it.

The next swallow of the liquid burns its way down and blurs your senses. Drunkenness creeps in at the corners of your mind. A weighted silence stretches on while you focus on the pleasant humming in your veins.

“Is that why you jumped in after me?” You twitch in your spot at the sound of Baekhyun’s voice. Enough time has passed of prolonged silence that you have to search your mind for what it is he’s referring to.

Oh, the storm. Your recklessness.

“Yeah,” you say easily. “You’re a part of my crew for now. We shook hands on our truce and everything –and you didn’t stab me after I cut your side, so I figure I can trust you. I would have done the same thing for anyone.” He seems unhappy with your answer, but doesn’t voice it. “If I can save a life, I save it. Especially if it’s someone on my crew,” you ramble on.

He laughs in disdain. “That’s stupid of you. No self respecting captain would do something like that.” He mutters around the bottle he’s slipped from your fingers, “I would have let me drown.”

You toss a handful of sand in his direction. “Well I’m not you.”

His eyes shine in confusion. You curse under your breath from the movement on your rib as you scoot closer to him. “You know,” you start, fully committed to over sharing now that you’ve started, “I haven’t hold anyone this, but years before I met Junmyeon –when I was still just a little street rat pick pocketing to eat and whatever- I had my life saved. You can think it’s stupid, because it kind of is but I don't care.” Baekhyun’s lip twitches up in amusement.

“Anyway! I had my life saved by this one kid. I was being chased down by a couple of thugs a man sent on me after I stole his purse. It was a rich guy who lived in my town, super well-known and feared. I’d really fucked myself over this time. His men were after me, and I tried to hide, but no one was willing to let me in. They were afraid of him. And I was just this random kid; they didn’t owe me anything. I knew if I was caught, I’d get my hands cut off…or worse!” You widen your eyes to emphasize your words. Baekhyun breathes out a laugh.

“I ran around in a panic, crying, shaking, begging. I was only like…10. I hid in an alleyway for an hour when I heard them coming. I could hear them asking people on the street if they’d seen me. ‘ _Have you seen this girl?_ ’ ‘ _Have you seen this girl?_ ’” you mimic. “I knew that I was going to be found. But then, this kid, he saw me when he’d come to throw out the trash from the shop he worked at. Or maybe he lived there? I don’t know…I just know that he didn’t have to help me, but he did. He helped me up and hid me in a storage shed under the shop until the next morning. It might not have meant anything to him, but I remember that favor to this day.

“I know it’s unlikely that I’ll ever meet him again, especially since I haven’t returned home, but I feel like I’m repaying him in some way like this. Saving the lives of people close to me or the lives of people who can’t save themselves. I can’t save everyone; shit, I’ve killed way more than I’ve ever saved, but where I can, if I know I can do it, then I do. Since I never got to tell him thank you…it helps.”

You aren’t sure if your words make sense; they don’t the longer you think about them, but you hope that Baekhyun gets the general idea. As a pirate, you pride yourself on killing those who are evil by nature. The people who pick on and hurt the innocent, the less fortunate, the defenseless. You kill, and you collect money for killing, but you have _never_ killed someone who did nothing to deserve it. You’re relentless, sadistic, and at times monstrous, but you aren’t heartless. Despite how you grew up and the struggles you’ve faced –for every unkind soul you encountered, you met two with hearts of gold.

“You know…you talk a lot when you’re drunk.”

“Shut up.”

“No it’s…nice. Having a…normal conversation.”

You blink at him. Yeah, it is. Not throwing curses and insults at each other for once is…nice.

But the thought of admitting that aloud to him makes your stomach twist in an ugly way.

“Are you going soft on me Byun?” you tease.

“I’m allowed to enjoy just talking every once in a while. You’re the one going all starry eyed over some kid from your childhood that’s probably buried in whores and liquor right now,” he throws back. “You shouldn’t idolize people like that. It’ll hurt you less when they don’t fulfill your expectations.” He fingers the neck of the bottle before taking a large swallow. “Besides it sounds like you’re in love with him and you don’t even remember what he looked like.”

“I’m not in _love_ with him,” you feel your stomach turn uncomfortably when Baekhyun looks back at you with an amused eyebrow raise.

_So you’re in love with him right? That's why you’re acting like this?_

Heat fills your cheeks. “And so what if I can’t remember what he looked like? It was a long time ago and my memory’s been distorted. Fuck off.”

For a while you did look for that kid. You can remember the kohl rimming his eyes, and the hood he wore that hid his face in the darkness. In the time you searched for him you wanted so bad for someone to fit the mental description that you began to _make_ people fit it. You confused what you actually remembered of his appearance with what you wanted him to look like.

Even if he sat right in front of you today –you probably wouldn’t even recognize him.

You hear Baekhyun holding back his giggling and you glare at him half-heartedly. With a full smile, all rectangle, all rounded cheeks, he holds the nearly empty bottle for you to take once again.

When your hand touches his this time, you both pause for a second longer than you should. You blame the alcohol. He lets go and averts his gaze back to the fire. You clear your throat nervously. “What about you?” his eyes flicker quickly from the fire. “Any savior stories? Or love stories, heartbreaker? You know, outside of ones with me,” you add jokingly before finishing the bottle.

“No,” he says quickly. You see his ears color.

You gasp. “You _do_ don’t you? Tell me,” you demand. “Was it someone you grew up with? Are you in love with someone right now?”

The red spreading up his neck isn’t a result of your imagination, or your drunkenness, you _know_ it. “Why are we even talking about this?” he complains, a whine taking form in his voice. You’ve heard him whine like this once before –when he was leaving a bar being held up by one of his men (Sehun, now that you know the people in his crew) and not wanting to go home.

“You’re the one interrogating me over my love life!”

“I was _not_!”

“‘ _You love him_ ’, ‘ _Sounds like you’re in love with him_ ’, ‘ _You’re obsessed with each other’_ ,” you mock.

His eyes narrow. “I never said that last one.”

This time you feel your face heating. “Whatever. You started the conversation.” You grab sand and start to fill the empty bottle just to give yourself the distraction. You don’t think you can look at him right now. “Besides, there’s nothing else to do. Unless you want to spar…” you look over eagerly.

His face scrunches up ~~(cutely)~~ and he lies on his back. “No, I’m too tired and too drunk to fight you right now.”

You frown to yourself and finger the top of the bottle distractedly. “You know…” you start again, “You act like love is a death sentence, or like it’s something bad.”

“It is,” he says simply. His voice sounds far away. You shuffle closer so (so that you can hear him better –obviously) and grumble under your breath as a way to distract from the pain movement causes you.

He doesn’t move away when you lie down next to him. You both stare up at the sky, visions swimming.

Fuck you’re drunk.

“Are you drunk?” you whisper.

“…a bit,” he laughs in a whisper back.

You both continue to look at the stars and giggle to yourselves. It’s funny that you’re here like this, you think –lying on a beach with Baekhyun on your side, so close that the sides of your bodies are nearly overlapping. Giggling and drunk and talking about love like old friends.

 _I think you should both admit you’re in love with each other so we can_ all _move on._

“Baekhyun…”

“Hmm?”

“It could be nice…being in love.” His head rolls to the side to watch you. You keep your eyes trained on the sky. “Like…it could be like having a first mate in life. Someone to help you navigate your ups and downs like a first mate helps a captain navigate the seas. It could be nice having that one person to lean on when the waters get too rough and it feels like the entire world is against you –you still have the one person who will always be there at your side. It might be nice to be scolded and praised and encouraged for just living…for just being yourself. Don’t you think?” you let your head loll to the side so you can look at him.

You observe the furrow of his eyebrows and the way his lips pout as he thinks. You stare openly into the darkness of his eyes and notice how they both droop downwards. How his nose slopes and how his face is _so round_.

You feel your stomach flip in an ugly way.

Struck by panic and by his silence at your words –you slap on a sleazy drunk smile. “And you can have sex with them whenever you want. That’s a pretty cool bonus, I think.”

He laughs his absolute loudest –his brightest- at that.

You shove down the urge to say something else, something just as dumb, just so that you can see him laugh like that again.

_Shit._

“Shut up,” he giggles. His eyes shine and dart across your face excitedly and you faintly register your own doing the same. His cheeks are so round and so red from the alcohol and the joy.

He’s very pretty when he smiles.

 _Both_ of his eyes, pretty ~~(he’s got two of them who would have thought?)~~. A mole under one of them, another on his cheek, one more above his lip.

His lips…those stupid little pink triangles that make up his upper and the stupid moisturized swell of the other. As if able to read your thoughts, his tongue darts out to wet them.

“Your lips are so stupid,” you grumble to yourself loud enough for him to hear you clearly.

That pulls another raucous laugh out of him. His teeth gleam in the moonlight and against the fire.

“Your teeth too,” you add softly. “They’re too white.”

“You’re drunk. Go to sleep,” he says with a smile.

You roll onto your side to face him. He follows. “Am’not. You’re s’the one who’s drunk,” you fire back. He chuckles softly, almost fondly, and it ghosts across your face. You’re close enough to count his eyelashes.

If you had half the coherence to do so.

“Baekhyun…”

“Hmm?”

You pause to figure out why you called out his name this time. You don’t have anything else you really want to say –just wanted to capture his attention.

“You wanna mess around?” you try.

He giggles. “No, we’re drunk.”

“How valiant of you, that’s never stopped us before. I’m only offering this one time so you better take it up before I take it back.”

He scoffs. “No you aren’t. You’ll probably ask again tomorrow too when you’re sober because you’re _always_ horny and _always_ stupid and you’re in love with my dick.”

You hum and close your eyes with a smile. “Touché.”

The world spins even as your eyes are shut. Your body feels heavy with alcohol and warm with whatever it is that has happened tonight between you and Baekhyun.

When you hear him murmur your name, you peak open an eye. His gaze is surprisingly clear for someone who drank just as much as you.

“Yeah?”

“I’ll uh…I’ll take the first watch,” he stammers.

You close your eyes again and hum in agreement. “You’ve got first watch?” you yawn out.

You vaguely hear him hum as the crackle of the fire sound of his soft breaths lull you to sleep.


	5. things will never be the same again

The sun searing your skin wakes you. It’s too bright, and too hot, and your body feels stiff and aches and _–fuck_ \- your throat is dry.

You moan pathetically but keep your eyes closed as your mind struggles to fully awaken. The pain in your rib is still there, and you curse yourself for falling asleep in a careless position.

Your head throbs dully and your mouth feels…

Fucking gross.

You crack open an eye and your headache immediately intensifies.

“Fuck.” You sit up and crack your neck. The fire is dead, burned out entirely. Baekhyun lies at your side, mouth open and saliva seeping into the cloth you’d laid down the day before.

You frown as you notice how closely the two of you slept. His leg thrown over your thigh and the rest of him is barely any farther away. You sigh.

You search the horizon for any signs of life –for any signs of your ship.

Nothing.

Still stranded. Still tired. Still thirsty.

A quick scan of your camp and you find a jug of water Baekhyun had brought over. An idea strikes you. You gingerly push Baekhyun’s leg off of your own and watch him twitch and whimper in his sleep.

~~Cute.~~

Standing up doesn’t require as much effort as it did yesterday. The good thing about this line of work, you heal faster.

Or maybe your pain tolerance is just higher.

Dragging your bare feet in the sand, you walk over to where you’d left your boots, your gun, and the compass.

“What you want most in this world, huh?” you rasp out as you pick up the compass. Right about now, the thing you want most is water. Drinking water. “Let see if this thing really works.”

You open up the device and watch the arrow slowly shift from side to side before it finally settles. You let out an impressed exhale as it points towards the jug of water on the other end of the camp. You follow the compass’s direction, strangely impressed, beyond where Baekhyun is sleeping and on further.

Then it turns around.

You freeze in your spot.

You walk forward and it continues pointing in the opposite direction. You look over your shoulder to follow the direction of the arrow with your eyes and then close them uneasily. Maybe it got turned around. You follow it, and walk passed Baekhyun’s sleeping form. You nearly sigh in relief when it continues to point beyond him.

And then it turns around again.

“No way.”

No matter where on the beach you find yourself walking, it always ends up pointing back to the same spot.

To Baekhyun.

You finally decide to walk up to him –the compass right above him- and want to laugh in disbelief. It spins slowly, almost happily, in circles. You scowl and toss it in the sand by the extinguished fire.

“It has to be broken,” you reason. He must be wearing something that messing with the polarity of it. He’s doing something to fuck it up.

You trod angrily over to the jug of water and chug it as if you’ll never be able to drink it again. It soothes your throat only slightly, and you still feel gross all over from the hangover.

You sit down forcefully, wanting to aggravate your injury.

Why would it point to him? The two of you have only recently gotten past the archenemy phase. You’re friends… friendsly… acquaintances…

Maybe he’s lying on something important to you and you should try it again once he’s moved.

You stare at him as if it’s his fault for this happening. ~~It is~~. He twitches and whimpers some more in his sleep.

Something in your chests flutters grossly.

Firewood.

You’ll go collect firewood.

Venturing as far into the woods as you can without losing your way; you pick up wood that could be used to make a new fire.

You definitely do _not_ think about that compass _or_ Baekhyun.

If it takes you a few hours longer than realistically needed just to collect wood, you don’t care.

When you emerge from the trees you notice that Baekhyun is awake and gone from his spot by the fire. You drop your armful of wood to watch him cast a line out to sea instead. When the fuck did he find a fishing rod?

After some debating, you walk over to his side.

There’s a handful of fish already piled behind him. You watch the waves lap at your bare toes.

“You left earlier,” he states.

“I wanted to get some more fire wood.”

“Oh.”

Silence.

“I uh, I see that you caught some fish?”

A nod. “I figured we’d get hungry soon.”

You nod back. You feel heat creeping up your neck. Why is this so _uncomfortable_?

“Sorry for falling asleep during my watch…I was more tired than I thought,” he flushes.

“It’s okay. Nothing happened to us. It was a long day. I understand.”

He reels in the line and sticks the rod in the sand. You look back down at the fish he’d caught in your absence. “Should we uh…eat?”

“Yeah, food sounds great,” he sounds almost relieved at the escape from conversation, and hurriedly reaches down to grab all of the fish before you can even begin to bend down.

He stumbles a bit in the sand and you watch his ears flame red in embarrassment.

_“I just think it’s obvious”_

You shake off Jongin’s words and follow after the man you’ve maybe started to see in a new light.

You hand Baekhyun matches as he nurses a new fire to life, and you try to expel the feeling of feeling useless. Of feeling _babied_. You aren’t accustomed to this.

Once the fire is started, you make quick work of cutting open and gutting your fish. The thought of eating makes your stomach growl angrily. You risk a glance in Baekhyun’s direction to find him staring at the fish in his hand, knife raised, but not making any move to start cutting it open.

“You okay?” you ask hesitantly.

He blinks up at you and grimaces at the intestines at your side. “Yeah I’m fine, I just…”

He doesn’t like dealing with guts. He doesn’t have to say it. You can read him clearly right now.

You sigh. “Hand it over.” You hold out your gutted fish. “You cook, and I’ll gut. Sound good?” He sags in relief and takes the fish from your hand, replacing it with his own.

You work dutifully as a team. You cut them open and remove the intestines –the bones too if you’re feeling generous; you hand them to Baekhyun; Baekhyun cooks them over the fire. Working together, the process moves quickly. You eat in a comfortable silence once it’s all done.

The sun lowers in the sky, and another look at the pitiful pile of wood that you carried over is all it takes to realize you’ll both be fucked if you have to last through the night with it.

“I should go find some more wood before it gets too dark out,” Baekhyun voices your thoughts. He stands up and dusts off his pants.

You move to stand up as well. “I’ll go with you-”

“No, you already went earlier. And you’re still injured, just…just wait here.”

“Baekhyun…this is not the worst injury that I’ve faced. I can go with you to get some fucking firewood-”

“You just don't know how to fucking follow directions do you-”

“Fuck you!” You push up on your feet with determination and refuse to show a single _sign_ that your body is protesting with every movement –because you have a _point_ to prove. He’s been taking care of nearly everything without complaint and you don’t know why but it’s _pissing you off_.

_The way he’s acting all of a sudden is pissing you off._

You meet his eyes in a glare that doesn’t hold as much heat as you want it to and break it off before he can watch you cringe in pain. You stomp off in the direction of the trees and don’t stop to catch him following you with his eyes.

Driven purely by dumb pride, you start to collect as much wood as you can before the sun disappears and you can no longer see in front of yourself. A part of you knows that snapping like that was uncalled for (especially with the shift in you and Baekhyun’s relationship), but a larger part of you is afraid of what it would mean if you and him were to suddenly…get along.

What would it mean if you enjoyed talking to him? If you wanted to be around him for more than just the bouts of sex you had in the past? What would happen if you allowed yourself to just… _like_ him?

He’s been too nice.

 _You’ve_ been too nice.

This isn’t the lifestyle for childish stomach flips and blushes at kind words.

You’re both killers. You’re killers and you’re pirates and you’re cutthroat and two days on an island isn’t going to change that.

Even if you’d like to pretend for just a while that it does.

The sun meets the horizon and the sky is painted in rainbows. Taking that as your sign to return to camp, you walk back with slow steps.

Your head is confused.

Or maybe it’s your heart.

Baekhyun has already returned by the time you’re back. The last flare is in his hand. You watch him light it and aim it high in the air. Red explodes above him –falls around him in a shower of color that makes him look unreal.

You feel sick to your stomach.

Silence consumes you as you both sit on opposite sides of the fire, the last of the wood you’d gathered that morning burning away quickly.

You grab a container of watered down beer and try to distract yourself from wandering thoughts.

Baekhyun fiddles with something from his spot. Initially, you plan on ignoring him, but the pensive look on his face sparks your interest. You squint and crane your neck to get a better view of what has him so lost in thought.

The compass.

“Have you tried it?”

Baekhyun looks up at your voice.

You try again. “The compass, have you tried it?”

He shakes his head. “Don’t know what I want.”

“Scared to find out?” His lips set in a line at your question. His gaze fixes on yours.

“Have _you_ tried it?” You feel your heart beat race at the question being turned on you. At the fear of being caught. He wouldn’t let you live it down if he knew. You could try to explain all you wanted but he would always hold it over you.

But he doesn’t know that it pointed to him. He can’t know that. “Yeah, it spun around like crazy. I think it’s broken,” you lie easily.

His eyebrows furrow at your answer. You swallow the lump in your throat and break eye contact to focus on the compass in his hands. It opens; you glance at his expression to catch him frowning. The compass closes with a clack. He opens it again.

“Damn thing is broken,” is all he says.

You feel your stomach in your throat when you scramble to your feet and say, “Let me see. Where did it point?”

The panic that flashes in his eyes is clear as day. He tosses the compass off to the side carelessly, before you can get close enough to see for yourself.

“Told you I don’t know what I want. Neither does it,” he grumbles with finality.

You glare at him. He glares at the fire.

You’re both lying.

You pick the compass back up and open it, only to watch it slowly start leaning in his direction once again. You close it with a snap.

Neither of you is willing to call the other out on it.

You hold back a groan and walk back over to your spot. You sit down with a moan of pain and a whispered curse under your breath. Baekhyun looks up and then away. You pretend that you don’t notice.

A swig of beer and you exhale. Things were so much easier between you when all you wanted to do was kill each other.

What _do_ you want now?

“Why do you wear the eye patch?” He brushed you off the last time you asked, and your own curiosity is getting the best of you. It’s not as though you’re asking to pull the conversation away from dangerous territory –not at all. “You’re eye is fine. Why wear the eye patch?”

He shrugs. “It’s sexy.”

You chuck the beer at his head. He laughs –more relaxed. The earlier tension dissipates.

“I’m serious! It started out like that. I tried it out because I look sexy as _fuck_ , and then people started making up crazy stories for how I’d lost it. I liked hearing what people had to say. My fighting didn’t really change because of it, so I just…kept it on. Captain Byun Baekhyun, the sexy pirate who can fight with one eye closed.” He smiles proudly and you snort.

He drinks what’s left in the container when you pitched it at his head.

“You should keep it off…more often. You’ve got nice eyes. I’m sure you would get just as much attention when people can see them both.” You roll your eyes at yourself and focus on the fire in front of you. He blinks, taken aback.

Neither of you dare try to pick the conversation back up.

* * *

It’s in the middle of the night when you see lights on the water. Clearly that of a ship in the distance. Baekhyun has fallen asleep at your side. Drank himself to bed hours ago.

You can’t make out the ship, but you notice the dark sails immediately. You shake Baekhyun awake.

“I think they found us!” you tell him excitedly.

He yawns, “Finally.”

Extinguishing the fire, climbing into the lifeboat, and rowing out to the ship sitting in the water feels like the first full breath of fresh air you’ve taken since the storm began all those days ago. Baekhyun rows and you squint in the darkness to make sure that the ship is in fact _yours_ , and not a random vessel that found you both and is here to arrest you, kill you, or both.

The closer you get, the more familiar it looks, and the dark sails are like a safety blanket you didn’t realize you can’t live without.

The sails feel like home.

You scale the ship first and only grunt once at the smarting in your rib. A hand extends to help you the rest of the way on deck. The faces of your crew greet you. Worried. Relieved. You feel your own emotions mirroring that shown in their expressions.

Belatedly, you remember Baekhyun climbing up behind you. You turn around to hold out your hand; giving him something to grab so he can be pulled fully aboard. When he climbs up, and the two of you are face to face, nearly breathing each other’s air, he lets go of your hand.

You clench and unclench your fist unconsciously.

At the sight of you both, alive, you’re finally swarmed by the waiting bodies.

“You’re alive!”

“He has two eyes?”

“Oh thank the Gods I thought you’d both been lost to the sea.”

Yixing and Jongin examine you both, twice over. You let them do their checks, and Yixing gives you a disapproving frown when you flinch at his hand on your injured rib.

You don’t get a chance to respond to him when arms wrap around you and you have to bite back a grunt instead. The hold on your middle is _tight_. It takes a full five seconds for you register that it’s Junmyeon; you sag in his arms as soon as realization hits. _This_ is home. “You idiot. I thought I’d _lost_ you.”

You hear the raw worry in his voice. Clenching his shirt in your fingers, you return the embrace. “I’m okay. I’m here. I’m safe,” you assure him. And you are. Everything worked out fine (thankfully) and you try to stave off the feeling of guilt. He watched Baekhyun get swept away and then you were lost immediately after. Junmyeon has a soft heart, always has. You feel like shit for causing him stress like this.

He pulls away only to put both his hands on your cheeks and look over your face. You smile tiredly. The exhaustion of everything is starting to hit you full force now that you can really let your guard down.

His eyes glance at your side and a small smile finds its way on his lips. “I’m surprised you didn’t kill each other.”

“He’s on my crew. You know how I am about my crewman,” you respond.

His hands drop from your face, and you risk a glance behind you. Baekhyun is facing similar treatment and seems preoccupied trying to convince a crying Sehun that he a) isn’t dying and b) didn’t grow an eye overnight.

When you turn back to Junmyeon, he has on a shit-eating grin.

You frown. “Don’t look at me like that. I nearly died a few days ago,” you warn. His smile doesn’t lessen. Lacking the energy to fight, you try to change the conversation. “How is that song coming along? You done any soul searching in my absence?”

Something akin to excitement flashes across his face. “It’s louder now; more clear. I think I can use it better to get us through the next trials. It’s been trying to help us avoid the worst of it. I realized when it suddenly started screaming as soon you both fell overboard.” The light is his eyes dims a bit. “Are you okay after that?”

“I think my rib is fractured, but it’s nothing serious. We’re both fine for the most part.”

“I didn’t ask about Byun-”

“Junmyeon don’t test me right now-”

He laughs loudly. His entire face scrunches up in joy, and even if you wanted to be mad at him…you can’t. His arm comes to rest over your shoulders. “You need some rest before we head to Isla de Sirena –both of you.” His voice raises enough to catch Baekhyun’s attention as well. The two of you share a look. Something unspoken about your time on the island passes between you.

_We won’t speak of it._

He cuts the shared glance short and walks off towards the crew cabins, hands in his pockets.

Before you can stalk off to your quarters, or more reasonably, the infirmary, Jongin blocks your path.

He examines you seriously. “Did something happen between you and Captain?”

“No. Nothing happened,” you respond shortly. “Things are the same as always.”

If he catches you looking towards the crew cabins again…he doesn't mention it.

You let Yixing guide you to the infirmary with soft words and scolds about being careless with a fracture like the one he fears you may have. You let him poke and prod you while Jongin goes off to check on Baekhyun.

“Does it hurt when I touch here?”

“No.”

“What about here?”

“…no but it’s a bit tender.”

“Okay. How about here-”

“ _Fuuuckkkkkkk_.”

“Alright I will take that as a yes.” Yixing scribbles something down on a parchment he keeps to keep track of injuries on the ship. You grind your teeth together to keep from making more noises of pain. “Yeah it seems like your lower rib experienced a fracture, but it’s not severe. Your breathing isn’t affected and you experience most of your discomfort when you move. I'll get something cold for you to put on the affected area.” He looks thoughtfully at the swelling at your side. “Other than that and recommending that you rest, practice taking deep breaths, and coughing to keep your airways clear, I’ve got nothing else for you.”

“Great.”

“And no drinking until you’ve healed.”

“WHAT?!”

Yixing almost looks smug. “You heard me Captain. Alcohol will only hinder your healing process. I’m putting a ban on you from the liquor storage until further notice.”

You open your mouth to argue, but the serious look in his eyes is enough to get you to close your mouth.

“I’m going to talk to Jongin about your condition and see if he has any suggestions or concerns. He has a bit more experience than I do in this area. He’s actually trained on internal injuries,” Yixing sighs to himself. “You should probably eat something and then head to bed until tomorrow. There’s no rush to continue the mission so soon. Rest up and get your strength back.” He pats the top of your head affectionately and walks out of the room leaving you with your thoughts.

That night you lie in bed with a weight on you that you can’t figure out. You’re happy to be back, more than anything.

But why is there a part of you that still wishes you were back on that island?

What happened there, stays there. You have to remember that. You were both in survival mode, that’s all. You only had each other so you leaned on each other in a moment of need.

Things will go back to the way they were as soon as you settle back into your routine. That’s for the best.

You can forget about worried looks and bright laughs from the man you only expect smirks and cold chuckles of. You can forget about falling asleep giggling by the fire together because you’ll go back to screaming at any given moment. You can forget about staring at each other in silence just taking in the others features, for harsh wordless sex in Arae motel rooms.

You try to reassure yourself that things will go back to normal.

But for some reason, the idea of things going back the way they were, settles bitter in your heart.

You pull your blanket over your head and force yourself to go to sleep. You don’t like where your head is at.

* * *

It takes a full week of rest and a bunch of begging before you can convince some of your crew to have a meeting about the next trial. You understand that you’re still healing but you feel leagues better than you did originally, and you are antsy to get things back to normal.

If the ship can’t sail to Isla de Sirena, then the least you all can do is _discuss it_.

You aren’t familiar with the island, nor are you familiar with the maidens that are rumored to inhabit it. You keep most of your dealings away from the general area of the island. It’s not rumored to be dangerous for nothing.

And when you were a child, you _saw_ one of the monsters a ship brought back to your port, so you know that this area is littered with dangers. You know that beastly things hide below the blue waters.

It had been dead for a long time, the body of the monster you saw as a child. It’s body rancid and decomposing by the second, but it was… _impressive_. It was nearly a third the size of the ship and the crewmen were _so_ proud of their kill that they brought it for the people at home to marvel over.

And oh did everyone marvel. Eyes wide and ears tuned into their every word as they spun tails of how they were attacked and nearly lost half of their crew to the beast. You can remember staring into the glassy eyes of the monster and seeing your own reflection in them. And you didn't feel fear, but a sense of wonder.

 _This is what the secrets of the ocean looked like_.

You were pulled home by your mother not long after. She didn’t like you hanging around the sailors and pirates who only docked to boast of their travels and treasures.

At least you’d have halfway made her proud –you think.

Sitting on your bed with your legs folded under you, you wait impatiently for the meeting you’d called to start. The ship has been sitting here for days, it’s not as though anyone is doing anything. With the ship still, the crew is basically on an unofficial vacation.

You finished lunch half an hour ago and now you’re just waiting on everyone else.

Chanyeol is the first one to knock on your door and you don’t even get the chance to say ‘come in’ before he is already walking into the room.

He smiles brightly and sits at your meeting table, eyes wandering around the room curiously before landing on your blank gaze.

“How’s the rib?”

You manage enough of a glare at the question that he shuts up and goes back to looking around the room, for a distraction now you assume.

Baekhyun comes in second, no knock, no words to announce himself. He sits at the table with Chanyeol without a single glance your way. Your eye twitches in annoyance.

Things since you got back on the ship between the two of you have been _weird_. You aren’t sure why exactly, but because you haven’t resumed fighting like usual, a tension just sits over you both.

It’s gotten to a point where you’ve actively tried to talk to him to figure out _what the fuck_ happened all of a sudden. Fighting, you expected. Being friends, something like you were on the island, you might have welcomed. But you did not expect.. _this_. A _silent treatment_????

He’s giving you the equivalent of an adult silent treatment, and it’s driving you _apeshit_. You aren’t sure what caused it. What was the reason? But it doesn’t matter because you know one thing.

If he wants to act childish, then you can act absolutely _infantile_.

“Are you sure nothing happened on the island?” you hear Chanyeol murmur to Baekhyun from across the room. You would roll your eyes at the poor excuse of a whisper, if you could be bothered to react.

“No,” comes back Baekhyun’s simple reply. “We’re just tired of fighting nonstop after spending those days fucking trapped together. Even I need time to recover after two days of torture.”

At this you do roll your eyes, and you swing your legs out of your bed to put your boots on before Junmyeon and Minseok can join you.

_Idiot._

_Bastard._

You spare the compass on your nightstand a glance and scowl at it before you stand, and stomp over to the table.

You slam your hand down on the table and give them both a look that could kill. “Do _not_ test me today. I’m not in the mood, and I’m feeling a bit bloodthirsty after days not moving around. Let’s keep this meeting easy and quick.”

The door sounds with a knock again.

“We’re here,” you call. You lean back away from the table, frown set in place.

The door opens and Minseok and Junmyeon walk in together. Junmyeon gives you a small smile and Minseok offers a nod.

“Since we’re all here, let’s get started shall we?”

While your men have a seat, you walk over to a stack of your treasured papers. You struggle to find the map given to you by Irene and a parchment so that you can jot down anything that seems of import during this discussion. When you turn around, they’re all engaged in easy conversation and they’ve all comfortably found seats around the table.

The only one left is at Junmyeon’s left.

And Baekhyun’s right.

You feel your face twitch ever so slightly as you make your way back over with your treasures and set them on the table. Ignoring the man on your left, you turn to everyone else.

“I know that we have a few people here with experiences with Isla de Sirena and knowledge of sirens in general. I for one, have no fucking god damned clue what to expect, and would like to take this time for us all to get on the same page.” You slide the map farther into the center. “So what the fuck makes these bitches so scary?”

“Their song, that’s what,” Chanyeol supplies easily. As if it’s obvious.

You close your eyes to hold in your frustration. “I got _that_. But why? How?”

Minseok leans forward and looks at the map with his powerful eyebrows quirked in interest. “It’s what makes them able to disguise themselves. The song is so powerful that it has the ability to alter your other senses.”

“You smell what they want you to smell, you see what they want you to see. If they’re strong enough, they can even make you feel things that aren’t actually there,” Baekhyun adds on. You don’t look his way.

“Do you think they could shift into members of the crew?” you whisper to Junmyeon. He shrugs. You turn the question to Chanyeol. “Is there a pattern to how they disguise themselves? Sehun said that they can turn into whatever you find most beautiful; can they change into normal people? How does that work?”

Chanyeol shakes his head. “That’s what makes them so dangerous. As a first line of defense they can appear as whatever they think will lower your guard. It puts you in a kind of haze, makes you want to trust them. If that doesn’t work and you’re expecting it, they could switch into people they see. In theory, if they could get aboard, they could turn into anyone on the crew.”

“So what the fuck do they _want_? Why go through all of this?”

Baekhyun answers again, “They’re monsters. They don’t have a motive. Just want to kill and cause chaos.”

Junmyeon leans over to whisper in your ear, “Not the sexy songstresses you were expecting huh?”

“I mean they still sound kind of sexy. Chaos is kinda hot,” you laugh out softly.

His face scrunches up in a silent laugh and you hear someone clear their throat. You and Junmyeon break up from your childish whispering to catch Baekhyun shooting daggers at you both, Chanyeol looking on, a bit mushy, like he just caught two school kids with crushes on each other flirting poorly, and Minseok just looks flat out amused.

“Are you two done?” Baekhyun bites out.

“Sorry!” Junmyeon apologies, flushes a bit, but you catch a hint of triumph in his face that he tries to hide with embarrassment. What the fuck. “So we just have to find a way to block out their song, keep them from getting aboard, and kill them right?”

“It’s not that easy dumbass.”

“Baekhyun!”

“Whatever.” Baekhyun defiantly crosses his arm over his chest. Junmyeon on your other side looks a bit too pleased with himself for your liking. Suddenly this meeting is wearing on your nerves. You pinch the bridge of your nose and look at Minseok for help. He shrugs, a small smile twitching at his lips.

Chanyeol looks back and forth between everyone at the table, and presses on. “It’s more of a willpower thing. You need to be mentally strong. You can’t just block it out, unless you’ve got something that can completely cancel out all the sounds in the world.”

“Willpower? We should make sure to lock Sehun below deck then,” Junmyeon murmurs to you.

This time you can’t hold back a short laugh.

“Uhh…well, I think this meeting has gone splendidly,” Minseok says with a smile too mischievous to mean anything good. “We should do this again sometime.”

“We should head out tomorrow,” you start. Energized at the thought of being back up and moving again. This fracture ruined your life over the last few days. “Let’s rest up tonight and get this mission back on the road. That good with everyone?” you ask the table.

“Yeah.”

“Ay Captain.”

“Baekhyun?” Junmyeon asks with an innocent smile. “That work for you?”

The glare Junmyeon gets in return is as if he personally murdered Baekhyun’s family. It’s overkill. It’s annoying. You punch Baekhyun in the arm, hard.

“Ouch!”

“You didn’t answer the question jackass.”

“Whatever,” he rolls his eyes. You want to kill him.

“You are so fucking _childish-_ ” you whisper murderously.

“Junmyeon, Chanyeol, can I talk to you both in the armory? I need your eyes to check our weapons before we reach the island.” Minseok stands and grabs the back of Chanyeol’s neck to drag him out of his seat. You don’t miss the secretive smirks your first mate and gunner share as they glide out of the room, dragging Chanyeol along.

Not seeing any point in staying at the table, you stand up and look down at Baekhyun. “You’re dismissed. Get lost.”

He laughs sourly and stands up abruptly, his chair scraping harshly against the floor as he walks over to your open door. He pauses and you feel the last of your patience run out once he shuts the door and turns around, a scowl set on his face.

“What the hell are you waiting for?” you growl out, but the question doesn’t hold nearly as much venom as it did in the past.

_Pathetic._

He stomps over to you and you figure it’s about time that the two of you go back to shouting profanities in each other’s faces until you’re red and out of breath and reaching for your weapons. His behavior these last few days has been uncalled for. From ignoring you, to being a dick to Junmyeon, to…to just fucking _existing_.

God you hate him.

You hate him so fucking much.

The toes of his shoes are against yours when he stops, chest heaving in angry breaths. You can feel your own blood boiling. You hate him. You hate him. _You hate each other_.

“ _What the hell are you waiting f-”_

And then his mouth is on yours.

* * *

Like magnets of opposite polarities, you always come back to one another.

Neither of you know when you became each other’s most frequent fuck, but along the way it became your reality. You’ll fuck others, kiss others, date others, but you _always_ come back.

Always.

You both do.

When hate is there to overshadow any other feeling, it’s easy to pretend it’s all just lust, all just comfort in bodies.

But for how long was it _not_ just that? How long was hate a crutch that you could lean on when other feelings started to emerge? How long did you cower behind hate?

You don’t want to think on it, not right now. And neither does he. You’re both riled up and feeling something so _potent_ bubbling under your skins. Something that neither of you are willing to touch with a 10-foot pole. No desire to unmask it.

Not yet.

Not now.

“I hate you so fucking much,” you murmur against his lips as you hastily untie the strings on his shirt, fingers itching to touch skin. To feel his skin beneath your fingertips. Skin burning with life. With fire. With passion.

“I know,” he breathes out. Mind jumbled as long fingers pull your shirt off your body in a rush. “I know you do.”

Your chest hurts. It hurts to breathe. Hurts to lie so easily knowing now that it’s a lie. It’s a lie. You’re both still lying.

His hand burns from the small of your naked back, all the way to your ass where he squeezes, pulls you closer. You moan and he swallows it, tongue swiping easily into your mouth, and you can’t think.

You just feel too hot. Too many clothes. You aren’t close enough. You feel _desperate_. So desperate that you can almost feel tears springing to your eyes.

“ _Fuck me_ ,” you pant. His mouth moves to your neck and sucks eagerly at skin. You grab his hair and allow him to place bites, licks, open-mouthed kisses as he grinds against you. Your legs wobble, but you hold onto him like a lifeline. You reach a hand into his pants and he gasps into your neck as you stroke him to full hardness. It’s too much.

It’s not enough.

You pull his head away from your neck to look him in his eyes, blown wide with desire and you’re sure your own are a mirror image. “I want you to _fuck_ me Baekhyun. _Right now_ ,” you growl out.

The hunger in his eyes makes your heart race, makes your body react, makes you want all of him. Whatever he’s willing to give.

You trip, stumble, collapse onto your bed in a mess of limbs and laughs. You both shuck off the rest of your clothes and finally, _finally_ you feel nothing but skin against your own.

You feel pathetic, so needy, so desperate, and you’re begging. You’re _begging_ for him to push himself inside of you.

You can’t help it.

It’s not like he doesn’t like it. He fucking _loves_ the sound of you desperately chanting his name. Losing your sense and falling victim to raw desire. The words fall from your lips like worship, like a prayer said for only him.

_Right there._

_Faster, faster._

_Oh_ fuck _, Baekhyun._

_Please. Please. Please._

He gets drunk off the sound of it. Off the moans, off the sounds of skin meeting skin, off the feeling of you coming undone around him.

He can feel his own end nearing and his own desperation picks up. Hips picking up pace, breaths coming out harder.

And you thread your fingers in his hair and pull him down into a kiss. Slower, deeper than the others before. “Come on Baekhyunnie, come on,” you whisper against his lips, eyes locking on his.

And he loses himself.

Shaking, hips stuttering, cock pulsing inside of you. You watch him, enrapt by the sight and he closes his eyes. The energy leaves him and he presses his face in the crook of your neck and lies on top of you. Gathering his senses. Gathering his breath.

You stroke his hair and back while his breath puffs against your neck. He shifts so that his weight isn’t fully on you, but enough is that he can continue to blanket you in his warmth and let you continue to play with his hair like this.

It’s intimate.

Scarily so.

It’s at this moment that the both of you accept that there’s no going back after this.

Something’s changed.

You don’t hate each other. No not at all.

Not one little bit.

Maybe you never really did.


	6. siren's song

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS UNEDITED IM SO SORRY LMAOOO

_What does this mean?_

Your thoughts are jumbled together as Baekhyun falls asleep against your chest. His soft whimpers and twitches are comforting almost in the quiet of the room. This isn’t the first time that he’s fallen asleep before you after a night together, but it _is_ the first that he’s fallen asleep like this.

Curled around you, against your chest, breaths puffing out softly against your skin.

You can recall countless times you’ve woken up in bed with him, at opposite ends of the bed, not touching any more than absolutely necessary. Pissed off at any little sound or movement that he would make in dreamland. Bothered by the feeling of sweaty skin touching your own once the lust has faded to nothing.

It’s a startling comparison to how you feel now, but there’s no part of you that feels bothered by it.

You let your fingers run through his soft dark hair absentmindedly. It doesn’t take long for you to be lulled asleep by the feeling of warmth surrounding you and the soft snores 

* * *

The tension doesn’t go away.

The arguing doesn’t stop.

Better yet, it amplifies.

“If you step foot in my quarters without permission again, I’ll kill you.”

“Oh really?”

“Really.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

“Do you want to test me?” There’s a smirk fighting to break out as you say the words. He takes another step forward and you feel your heart rate picking up at the excitement visible in his eyes.

Jongin steps between you. “Please, can you not fight today? You guys have been going at it every day. We’re _tired_.”

You blink and look at the man amusedly. He looks genuinely exasperated standing in front of his captain like this. “Would you rather I fight with you?” You take a step towards him and watch excitedly as he takes a surprised step back and pink flushes across his cheeks. You feel playful, but it seems as though Jongin doesn’t fully realize it.

Baekhyun pushes Jongin behind him. You can still see the color on his cheeks as he ducks his head down behind Baekhyun. “Don’t flirt with my first mate!”

“You flirt with mine!” you state with a scoff.

Junmyeon blinks at your words from where he emerges from the kitchens. You cast him an accusatory glance and he shrugs before turning away and resuming his duties. You know that it doesn’t bother him in the slightest, being called out for flat out flirting with Baekhyun, but you’ve still decided to give them both shit for it. They’re both naturally touchy, they can’t help it. Once Baekhyun finally got over whatever was making him pissy at Junmyeon, the two have become quick friends. Close friends.

A bit too close for your own liking –if you’re honest with yourself.

Minseok takes it upon himself to grab you by the arm and drag you away with a pointed look in Baekhyun’s direction. You let him pull you to the hull and wave away Ten at the wheel without a word.

He doesn’t seem exasperated by the arguing as he did the last time he pulled you aside, but you still expect a lecture of some kind from him. You won’t be the one to break the silence in fear of getting a _talk_ like that of the one in the infirmary all those days ago. 

He crosses his arms over his chest and looks at you blankly. “Do you think that you might want to go back to doing your job now, Captain?”

“I _am_ doing my job,” you throw back easily. His lip twitches but he doesn’t bother to humor you with any kind of response outside of a disbelieving chuckle. He turns around and you watch him walk off and grab Baekhyun by the back of the neck with a squeeze so hard that it nearly brings the younger to his knees. Minseok whispers harshly into his ear and Baekhyun nods rapidly in agreement to whatever he’s being told. It takes a full 5 seconds of you watching the scene to realize what you’re doing.

_Nothing._

Maybe Minseok was right. You _should_ go back to doing your job.

You settle at the unoccupied wheel of your ship and look out in the distance at the empty expanse of water ahead. At this point in the journey, you only know to continue sailing forward until there is a sign of Isla de Sirena. Truthfully, you wish that your crew could avoid this trial entirely.

After the first one, the storm that almost claimed your life _and_ your ship, you fear for the state of the _Storm Chaser_ and your men in the face of what are essentially evil mermaids. Unfortunately, the only way to advance on to the third and final trial is to face each one before it head on. There’s no shortcut in the return back to Atlantis, but fuck do you wish there was.

This time, you hope that Junmyeon is able to use his song a bit more helpfully so that you aren’t nearly killed again.

It hasn’t even been 2 weeks since the storm and your embrace with death.

You hear the sound of boots against wood and feel a presence behind you. A glance to the side and you see Junmyeon stopping a few feet from your right with his eyes trained out on the horizon.

“Junmyeon?”

He blinks a few times as if clearing his mind from a stupor. Something about the look in his eyes worries you.

“I…I don’t have a good feeling about where we’re heading.”

Your eyebrows pull together in concern. You feel as though you may need to talk to Junmyeon in private, but you can’t do that at the helm. You look over the ship for someone to take your place.

“Sehun!” you shout across the ship once you spot the man. Sehun turns from his conversation with Jongin by the entrance to the crew cabins at the sound of his name. You motion him over. He jogs up to you immediately and you step away from the wheel. “Can you steer for a while?” you ask. He frowns slightly but nods in agreement. Sehun looks between you and Junmyeon, who has turned back to staring off with a sort of glazed look in his eyes, with worry.

You grab at your first mate’s arm and pull him off to the side where you can talk to him out of earshot of anyone else.

“What’s wrong?” you whisper once the panic clouding over his eyes disappears yet again. You don’t like the way he’s acting.

He shakes his head at your words. “The tune of the song is off. There’s something wrong about the song,” he says softly, fearfully.

“What do you mean? Are we not going the right way?”

“No it’s not that, we are…I’m still sure we are. I just…” His eyes lose focus just behind you; you squeeze his arm to bring his attention back to you. You frown at the blank expression on his face. “We should be extra cautious of what’s to happen next…”

His behavior and words fill you with unease. For Junmyeon to be so out of it is abnormal –extremely so. Of anyone on the ship, he’s always the most aware of everything going on at any point in time.

And he was fine earlier.

“Do you need to lie down for a bit? You’re kind of scaring me,” you admit. When he blinks again and his look is suddenly clear and focused, you shudder.

“No, we all need to be on high alert. We’ll come across Isla de Sirena at any moment from now to tomorrow. We only know the general location of the island, and that doesn’t help us out very much-”

“Captain!” You whirl around at the frantic voice. Yeri pants as she runs up to you. “Captain,” she gasps out again through desperate inhales of air. “We see something up ahead!”

You catch the way Junmyeon swallows nervously before you make your way back to the hull where Sehun is still steering. You squint out ahead of the ship.

You see nothing.

“Where’s my telescope?” You bark out. You scan the deck of your ship to find a few of your men at the bow, surrounding Baekhyun with _your_ telescope up to his eye.

“How many _fucking_ times do I have to tell him not to use my shit…”

Yeri flushes at your side. “I’ll...uh… I’ll go get it from him Captain,” she says apologetically before jogging away to the huddle of people trying to catch sight of whatever has been…sighted.

Yeri taps on Baekhyun’s shoulder and waits until he investigates who has disrupted him, before she snatches the device directly from his hand. You watch as he stares at her retreating figure with an offended look at her curt behavior. You smile proudly to yourself. When Yeri returns to your side and your telescope is back in your possession, you catch Baekhyun’s eyes and flick him off.

He sends you a finger back with an upwards twitch of the corner of his mouth.

You turn your attention back to Yeri before he can catch sight of you own lips itching to break out in a smile. “What’s the report?” you ask, bringing your telescope up to your eye so that you can find what has caused the commotion on the ship.

“It seems as though we will be approaching the island within the next few hours,” Yeri starts. You’re finally able to train your sights on a mass of land. It is small, even taking the distortion from how far away it is into account. The ship could easily just go around it.

You lower your telescope.

“Sehun, can we just go around the island?” you question.

“No!” Sehun says loudly just as Junmyeon nearly screams the same. You look back and forth between them in confusion.

“We can’t go around it. We can’t,” Junmyeon’s voice shakes as he says it, eyes wide with fright.

Your mouth opens at his fear shrouded expression, but no words come out.

Sehun cuts in to save you the trouble of trying to figure out why your first mate looks so terrified. “The island may look small, but that's because that is the only part that you can see. There are rocks and reefs that stretch out for miles on either side of it. They’re just hidden enough to be invisible from a distance, but it’s nearly impossible to maneuver around them. The ship would crash if we tried to go around at this point.”

“There’s a passage in the middle of the island that is large enough for a ship to sail through without problem,” Chanyeol’s voice booms from behind you. Confusion paints your face as you try to figure out where the hell he appeared from.

You try to figure out the reliability of going directly through the island versus around it. “Is it safe?”

Chanyeol sighs heavily at your question. “No, but it’s faster than trying to dodge reef and rock and inevitably crashing by going around.”

You swallow at the prospect of your ship crashing from something as dumb and avoidable as coral. “Alright, so we’ll sail through the island. That’s fine; that was the initial plan.” You speak mainly to yourself, trying to reason with the part of you that fears this will end horribly. Junmyeon’s behavior, the conveniently placed passage in the middle of the island, it doesn’t bode well.

“Sehun, you can navigate it?”

“As long as it’s through the island and not around, I can get us through safely.”

“May Poseidon be merciful…”

* * *

The first tendrils of music begin to float around the ship once you have sailed an hour closer to the island. Isla de Sirena is still too far in the distance for music to logically be able to reach your ears.

The song is beautiful, tinkling and melodic. Alluring, but it makes your skin crawl regardless of the beauty of it. It’s haunting, the harmonies, the mix of voices.

It makes you a bit dizzy.

You climb down the stairs to the main deck and walk over to the side of the ship to peer into the water. For the music to be reaching you, the sirens must be closer to you than they seem. As you expected, you can see movement beneath the waves.

Squinting, you try to make out whether the movement is just that of normal fish or of mystical creatures trying to drag your ship to the depths. Whatever it is, is too quick for you to clearly see.

You’re yanked away from the railing with a force that makes you stumble backward over your own feet. You collide clumsily into a disturbingly familiar chest.

You can feel one hand on your wrist and the other curled around your shoulder.

“Stay away from the edge of the ship. If they catch sight of you then they can shift themselves into your lookalike,” Baekhyun says against you, voice vibrating in his chest against your back. You twist your head to look at the hand squeezing your shoulder.

Embarrassment floods your veins at the intimate contact and you shrug yourself out of his hold. He doesn’t seem bothered by it.

“Keep away from the sides of the ship. We keep moving forward no matter what,” Baekhyun commands to your crew. Frozen in their spots, looks are thrown your way as if asking whether or not to follow his words.

You shrug. This isn’t your area of expertise. “You heard him, full sail ahead,” you call out. Your words snap everyone into action as members work to keep away from the edges of the ship while continuing to do their jobs.

It’s not long before the music gets louder, more insistent and the island is visible to the naked eye. It’s distracting, but you will not fall a fool to its melody. “Keep your minds clear! Do not trust _anything_ that you may see outside of the _Storm Chaser_ herself,” you shout as you walk around ensuring that things are going smoothly. You have to keep yourself busy to keep from listening too closely to the tune.

The call of the sirens starts to affect the members of your crew the closer the ship veers towards land. The younger crewmen are the most susceptible to the melody as their senses are blurred and beautiful images are projected in the waters. 3 members have to be forcefully dragged below deck as they’re caught, zombie-like, walking to the edge of the vessel hypnotized and willing to throw themselves into the sea.

They don’t seem to realize what’s wrong even as others try to explain to them that it’s just an illusion. You warned the crew ahead of time, but to see the siren song impacting your men so easily is frightening.

“Mom? Mom!?”

The music has dulled down to a faint buzz in the back of your mind, but you have a feeling that it must still be loud, if not louder, to others. Johnny struggles to restrain one of your newest boatswains, Lucas from jumping into the water. There are tears in the boy’s eyes as he screams out for his mother, eyes wide and hands reaching towards the waters. When you follow where he’s desperately trying to escape to with your eyes, you see a grotesque creature atop a rock peaking out of the ocean. It’s mouth is open in song, a grin so large on its face that it’s sharp teeth gleam in the light.

A siren.

Its skin is a shade of grey so dark that you dare liken it to a dark blue. Torn fins stretch between skinny fingers. Spikes made of its own bone protrude from its back and undulate with every note that floats from its mouth. You feel sick at the sight of it.

Lucas continues to scream towards the siren in anguish. Your heart hurts watching him look out at the monster with all the sadness, love, and regret you know that he had for his mother. You all know that his mother died earlier in the year, and that he hadn’t gotten a chance to say goodbye.

The sirens have already begun to resort to despicably low tactics.

Chanyeol runs over to help pull Lucas below deck as he thrashes against Johnny’s arms in an attempt to crawl overboard. You turn away, unable to watch the scene any longer. You know that with the two of them, they’ll be able to get Lucas safely below deck and calmed down.

Sehun is still at the hull, intensely focused ahead as he tries to safely keep the ship moving forward while trying to ignore the call of the sirens. As soon as the ship enters the passage that splits the island in half, the music stops.

You look around in confusion at the sudden silence, and only feel the feeling deepen at the sight of some of your crewman covering their ears as if they can still hear the singing.

You’re the only one who can suddenly hear nothing.

The rocks on the island sparkle like diamonds under the sunlight. The water that cascades down in miniature waterfalls tinkles pleasantly. The air feels crisp and clean, and if you were not aware that this is all meant to lower your guard, you would appreciate the beauty of the small paradise. A paradise or a well disguised hell.

If you look beyond the shining rocks and the crystal clear waters, you can see signs of destroyed ships, shredded pieces of clothing, bones too similar to that of humans. Beneath it all is death. The end goal for the sirens is the death of you and your men. They’ll sing you to your demise.

Movement catches your eye from one of the rocks that overlooks the passageway. A woman with blonde hair and black eyes that pierce into your soul sits lazily overlooking your ship. She catches your eyes and a smile breaks out across her face. One dainty hand comes up to wave with nothing but a wiggle of delicate fingers.

You feel pulled into her bottomless gaze. It’s only when she stands up atop her rock that you realize she is naked save for a thin dress that seems to be made of water. The water moves with life, as if sentient around her body. It acts like some kind of clothing although it does nothing to cover her body.

She laughs and it chimes through the air like precious jewelry clinking together. You glare at her as she stretches out her muscles from above.

And then she jumps down from the cliff into the water below.

Like awakening from a spell, you snap out of your entrancement. Stricken by panic, you run off to find someone, anyone that you can to let them know of what you saw. 

Yixing is massaging his temples near the crew cabins when you catch sight of him and run up to him. You grab the front of his shirt tightly, frenzied. “I made eye contact with one of the sirens.”

“You what?!”

“I- Fuck I don’t know I wasn’t thinking. She didn’t…do anything to me…she jumped into the water though after. I think she was able to get a good look at everyone currently on deck. She jumped into the water I don’t know where she went,” you rush out. “If she manages to get aboard we are _fucked_. She could see everyone, and she definitely saw me.”

Yixing blanches. “Fuck…”

You swallow.

“Fuck!” He curses again. He looks around frantically at the members left above deck trying to ignore the pull of the sirens’ song. “Stay here. Stay up here; do _not_ leave this deck. If they can transform into you now, there’s a better chance at catching them if we see two of you in one place, and this will be where they first appear,” he commands. “I’ll go inform Junmyeon and the rest of the crew about the one you saw.” Yixing rushes off and you stand in your spot unsure of what to do.

You can no longer go below deck or else you will put everyone’s safety in jeopardy. You’re a liability now.

All because of the blonde siren.

The song begins to fill your ears again and you almost want to laugh at the timing of it. It’s like they’re mocking you. Soft notes curl around your body and try to sway you towards the water.

You shudder violently and run up to Sehun.

“How much longer until we’ve cleared the island?”

“20 minutes if we keep moving without issue…as long as we can keep everyone aboard and safe,” he says through clenched teeth. His knuckles are disturbingly pale as he grips the wheel tightly and tries to maintain concentration.

So long as Sehun stays right where he is, things will be fine.

Just 20 minutes. You all can survive that.

You begin to wonder if the siren’s song has distorted the Atlantian song. Maybe that is why Junmyeon said that it was off earlier. The song may have been warning of distortion between the songs. He has to have some kind of cryptic advice or warning now that the music is audible to everyone on the ship.

You turn in circles in search for the black haired Atlantian. He’s nowhere to be seen above deck. Did he go below?

A splash shakes you from your thoughts. You turn in the direction of the noise, and then you hear the shouting.

Hesitantly you make your way toward the edge of the ship where the splashing and shouting has picked up volume.

You see Junmyeon thrashing wildly in the waters below.

Your blood goes cold.

“J-Junmyeon?” Your voice comes out weakly at the sight of him barely keeping himself afloat in the water. It has to be an illusion. You watch him struggle to keep his head above the water and your own body starts shaking in horror.

That can’t be Junmyeon. There’s no way that Junmyeon would fall overboard like that.

But the sound of his voice, the desperation in his tone as he screams out your name, that all sounds just like him.

The body in the water seems just like him.

But no one else seems to hear him. It’s only you.

 _That’s not him_.

You pull yourself away from the sight of him.

Kyungsoo rushes by you and you reach out to stop him in his tracks. “Where’s Junmyeon?” you ask him worriedly.

He blinks and looks around the ship quickly. “I last saw him going below with Yixing,” he says with a frown. You nod and let go of his arm so that he can return to whatever he was running to do.

Trying not to let the sound of the false Junmyeon’s shouts trick you, you close your eyes and take a few steps away from the edge of the ship. It’s getting quieter, but the sound of his screams is still there.

Distracted, you bump into another body. You whirl around and come face to face with Baekhyun. You blink at him and all of a sudden the sound of Junmyeon yelling is gone.

Baekhyun looks at you with genuine concern. “Are you okay?”

“I…” you furrow your eyebrows and try to gather your thoughts, try to calm your racing heartbeat. The song of the sirens buzzes lightly in the back of your mind. “I thought that I heard Junmyeon fall overboard.”

Baekhyun frowns deeply and shakes his head. “Yixing took Junmyeon below deck. He said that he’d made eye contact with one of the sirens. Junmyeon didn’t want anyone to get confused and wanted to stay below to keep it clear where the real him is.”

You swallow at his words and turn to look back in the direction of where the fake Junmyeon had thrashed and called out for your help. Baekhyun grabs your arm and gently turns you away. “Hey, don’t fall for it. We have to keep going forward remember? That’s fake; that’s not Junmyeon,” he says while looking into your eyes.

You nod along to his words, but something in the pit of your stomach feels off. Something feels _wrong_.

If Junmyeon had gone below deck, he or Yixing would have told you. They would have told you the same way that Yixing went off to tell Junmyeon about what you saw.

Yixing told you to stay above deck after you made eye contact with that siren. Why would he take Junmyeon below deck if the same happened to him?

Baekhyun’s words feel off.

You look into his eyes, “You’re right.” You try to keep your tone even. “I’m going to go make sure that Junmyeon is alright then,” you say.

“No, you stay here. I’ll go check on him,” Baekhyun says quickly. He plasters on a smile to cover up how rapidly he decided to take the task upon himself.

It’s then that you know this is all wrong.

You shrug off the hand on your wrist and hold in a shiver. “I can do it,” you press on.

“I’ll go with you then!” he says. You give him a measured look. If not already looking for a break in the facade, you would have missed the way that the image of him wavers like a mirage in a desert for a split second. Sick rises in your throat.

This isn’t Baekhyun.

Your skin breaks out in goosebumps at the realization, but you try to maintain composure. You don’t want the siren to know that you’ve seen through her illusion.

“Okay, we can go together. Just give me one second,” you say. You spin on your heel and try your hardest not to let how unsettled you are show in your steps up to Sehun. At his side, you give _Baekhyun_ a thumbs up and then pull Sehun down so that you can whisper in his ear. “Stop the ship right _now_ ,” you whisper quickly. You let go of him and ignore the look of confusion on his face in lieu of squeezing his arm as another silent “ _stop the ship_ ”. Baekhyun watches your interaction closely but doesn’t mention it as you make it back to his side.

“Let’s go,” you say. Normally, you would grab Baekhyun’s wrist or arm to drag him along, but the thought of touching the siren makes your skin crawl, so you settle for walking in front and leading the way towards the ladder below deck. Your senses are on high alert as he follows silently behind you.

There’s no plan, but you know that you need to get rid of the siren as soon as possible. You just hope to the Gods that you’re right in your assumption and that it’s not actually Baekhyun following you.

It would really be fucked up if it’s the real him because of what you plan on doing next. You can’t think about it for too long.

You turn on your heel and with a quick inhale of breath to brace yourself –you shoot Baekhyun right in the chest.

He stumbles backwards, once, twice. From the wound, instead of warm red, out spills inky blue blood. Your hand wavers in relief, still pointed at who you thought was Baekhyun. The Baekhyun imposter looks down at the wound in shock, and then up with eyes shifting to full blackness. It releases a hiss and piercing screech that fills the ship; you fire another two shots right into its head. It falls to the ground with a thud. You watch it shift from what looked like Baekyun back into the ugly grey creature it is with fury.

“What the fuck!?” Kyungsoo shouts. You cock your head to the side and find that he watched the entire encounter. You exhale the breath you’d held in and lower your gun.

“Where’s Baekhyun?” you growl at Kyungsoo. He flinches at your tone and looks away from the body at your feet.

“He was helping calm Lucas down…he’s been in the crew cabins for a while now. Wha-”

You turn on Kyungsoo in the middle of his question in order to shout to anyone who can hear. Your fear from earlier has transformed into pure rage. They tricked you.

Fully and completely the sirens tricked you and now you know that what you saw earlier was the truth.

Junmyeon is no longer on the ship.


	7. not everything is as it seems

“MAN OVERBOARD! JUNMYEON HAS FALLEN OVER BOARD.” You stomp over to the edge of the ship and look back where you last saw Junmyeon. You left him behind.

 _You left Junmyeon behind_.

“They bleed blue,” you murmur to yourself. “They bleed blue!” you shout to your crew. “If you have _any_ doubt about whether someone is real or not, shoot first and apologize later,” you command. “Stop the ship now. I need two people with me to go rescue Junmyeon.” You secure your gun in its holster and make your way towards the dinghies secured off the side of the ship. “They’ve seen half of our faces so no one is safe from being assumed an imposter.” You pull your gun back out of its holster and add two more bullets to its chamber.

“Can I come with you?” Jongin places his hand on your shoulder and you tense at the touch. When you look into his eyes, for a second you feel calmed.

“Yes, but we need at least one more person. Have you had to fight a siren before?” you ask him as you make a mental note of what weapons you have on your person.

Jongin shakes his head. “The last time we were here we never left the ship, but I think that Chanyeol would be best to accompany us.”

“Bring him then. We don’t have any more time to waste.” Jongin bounds off to find the other pirate and you take quick steps towards Yixing who has reappeared back on deck crouched next to the body of the siren. “I’m leaving the ship in your hands. Jongin and Chanyeol are going with me. Double check that everyone else is accounted for and _actually_ who they seem to be while we go after Junmyeon.”

“Are you sure you should do this? What if that wasn’t him?”

“Have _you_ seen Junmyeon anywhere on the ship in the last 10 minutes?”

He closes his mouth at the question. You set your lips in a grim line.

“Like I said, we’re going after him. If we aren’t back in a reasonable amount of time, you know what to do.”

Yixing nods and stands up from his position near the ground. “Be safe,” he says gently.

You can’t promise him that you will, so you break eye contact and look towards the rocks that make up the island. There’s no way for you to know what you will face, and you’ll do whatever it takes to get Junmyeon back to safety. Your safety in all of that isn’t your priority.

“Captain, Chanyeol and I are ready when you are,” Jongin says, stepping into your line of vision with Chanyeol close behind.

“We’ll be back,” is all you can assure Yixing. Luckily he accepts it as he watches you set off towards the water.

Once the boat is lowered, Jongin takes charge of rowing in the direction that you point him towards. The ride is silent.

Silent?

“Do you guys hear any singing?” you question.

Chanyeol’s head tilts to the side curiously before his eyes widen. “No…I don’t think I’ve heard anything in the last few minutes.”

“I haven’t heard anything since the screeching…” Jongin adds.

You wonder if the screech was a warning sound to the others. Perhaps they have stopped singing all together to hide –now that one of them has been killed.

“Chanyeol, how often are sirens killed?”

He scratches the top of his head. “I don’t know. Not often. People don’t ever get close enough to be able to kill them.”

“Then they’re probably not very happy that we killed the one that made it on the ship, huh?”

“No duh,” Jongin huffs out.

It’s their own fault for climbing aboard your ship. You wouldn’t have been able to kill it had it not been right there next to you.

Laughter floats from the trees and you feel everyone aboard the little boat stiffen. You catch a glimpse of blonde hair in your periphery. It’s gone in a flash, lost in the trees along with the laughter, but you know that you caught sight of it.

“I’ve always fucking hated sirens,” Chanyeol grumbles out.

You have to say that you are beginning to feel the same.

“Jongin wait, take us to the left. I see something over that way,” Chanyeol points out a spot on the bank of the water where there seems to be signs of a recent disturbance. It’s wet with a trail large enough to be that of someone pulling themselves out of the water.

It looks like it could be where Junmyeon was able to pull himself on land.

Unless he was being pulled down, you know for a fact that Junmyeon could get himself to land. Outside of Yixing, he’s the strongest swimmer on your crew.

The only sounds that fill your ears are the tinkling of the waterfalls and the sound of the paddles hitting water and bringing you closer to shore. The hairs on your body stand at attention. Every sense on alert as you step out of the boat and look around the land.

Chanyeol squats down where the trail is located and touches it with careful fingers. Jongin hefts the boat far enough on land that it won’t be pulled back out to sea. You hear shuffling in the bushes to your right and reach for your gun. You feel itchy to kill something. Whether this be siren or some wild animal, you don’t think that you care. So long as you can _shoot_ and release some of this pent up anxious energy.

Your arm loses all of the tension that had built up –eager to pull out your pistol- and falls limply to your side when Junmyeon comes stumbling out of the trees.

He’s limping and gripping at his arm as if in pain, his clothes are still soaked and he looks dirty and tired, but when his eyes meet yours he smiles.

“Captain,” he rasps.

Your nose burns immediately at the threat of tears. You make it one step towards him before you’re stopped and pulled back. You whip your head around to find Jongin grabbing your bicep with a look of desperation in his eyes. He shakes his head almost imperceptibly.

You don’t even get the chance to question him when the sound of a gunshot rings through the air. Jongin winces, and his grip on your arm loosens enough for you to slip out and turn back to find Junmyeon bleeding from the injured arm he’d been holding earlier.

His blood gushes out blue.

You stand frozen in your spot as the siren sneers and contorts Junmyeon’s face in a horrifyingly angry expression. It screeches shrilly and tries to limp back into the trees, but it seems as though its limp was genuine and that slows it down greatly. Jongin is tackling it to the ground while Chanyeol is busy putting another bullet into his pistol. Your mind whirs back to life and you run towards the siren and hold down its thrashing legs while Jongin controls its arms. It gets a solid kick to your shoulder before you’re able to hold it down.

Despite the dirt covering its body, you notice now that it isn’t bleeding anywhere outside of where it was hurt by Chanyeol. You wonder if they are unable to replicate human blood.

The siren writhes and you grit your teeth trying to hold it still.

“Where did you take him?!” you shout over the rustling of the brush from its squirming.

It laughs loudly and its back arches high enough off the ground that you briefly think it will start levitating. You and Jongin put more of your weight on it to keep it restrained.

“Where is the man you’re disguised as?” Chanyeol tries. He cocks the gun. The siren cackles wildly, nearly to tears, but makes no move to answer either of your questions.

“I don’t think it’s going to talk,” Jongin murmurs.

As if to agree with his words, the siren leans up as much as it can, looks straight into your eyes, and bites off its own tongue.

It spits it out right at Chanyeol’s feet. The once pink tip turns long, slimy and deep blue as it hits the ground. You feel sick at the sight of –what looks like Junmyeon bleeding blue from the mouth with a vile smile across his face. The three of you look at the tongue in surprise.

“No more questions then I assume?” Chanyeol asks you. He points his gun to the sirens head. Despite knowing that it’s just a monster, you don't think you’ll be able to watch someone kill, what looks like, Junmyeon. You close your eyes and turn your head away from him.

You nod your head and screw your eyes tighter together. You hear the single shot and feel the way the body stiffens and freezes beneath your hands. You only open your eyes when you feel a hand on your shoulder.

Chanyeol looks down at you sympathetically, and you let go of a breath that was trapped in your throat. When you look down at your hands where they are still holding down the siren, you see the grey skin beneath your palms and realize that you no longer feel wet clothing but the moist scaly skin of the dead siren.

It’s no longer Junmyeon.

You jerk your hands away and frown down at the body. Despite this being the third siren you’ve seen in its true form, you have yet to grow comfortable with just how horrid they look.

They _cannot_ be something of nature. You wonder what made them into the creatures they are. Perhaps they angered one of the Gods and were cursed.

Whatever the reason may be, it’s none of your concern why they are the way that they are. They’re evil and have potentially hurt Junmyeon.

That's all that you dare care about right now.

“Let’s go,” you grunt out and stand to your feet. If you weren’t in a bad mood before, the sirens are doing a spectacular job of putting you in one.

Unsheathing your sword, you march towards the trees and slice through branches and vines with more force than needed to cut down the weak foliage that hangs down in your way. For a full five minutes you take your anger out on the nature that surrounds you as you walk forward with no plan.

“C-Captain-”

You freeze in your tracks at the tentative timbre of Jongin’s voice and realize in your stillness that your arms are shaking. You clench your fist tighter around the hilt of your blade.

“What?” you bite out, trying your hardest not to let your frustration appear in your voice.

You’re frustrated with yourself –extremely. The sirens have tricked you twice now, three times if you count being fooled into thinking that when you saw Junmyeon in the water that it was fake. The constant trickery makes you feel as though you aren’t competent enough to handle this mission. You are a seasoned pirate, you should be able to think rationally and not be tricked by silly deceptions like these.

You’re the god damned Captain of the _Storm Chaser_.

A Captain who has been fooled thrice now by illusions and lost a member of their crew in the middle of _another_ trial. You're sick of losing members of your crew, sick of these trials, and especially sick of these god damned mother fucking death mermaids.

“Maybe one of us should lead? You seem a bit…tired,” Jongin finishes cautiously and looks over to Chanyeol.

“No. You seem like you’re on the verge of a fucking breakdown,” Chanyeol corrects easily. Jongin frowns and smacks the taller on the arm. Chanyeol is unfazed and offers nothing but a short shrug. “You do.”

You inhale and close your eyes. When you exhale you try to release the tension that has accumulated in your muscles. It only lessens slightly.

“I’m fine,” you start. You open your eyes and feel a fresh wave of awareness wash over you. You mind feels more cleared than it has in the last hour –even if it is only by a small margin. “I’m fine _now_. Just…let’s find Junmyeon and get as far away from this cursed fucking island as we can as fast as possible.” You grimace. “And let’s try not to get distracted,” you say more for your own sake.

Even with your head a bit more clear, you think that it may be a better idea for someone else to lead for a while. Wordlessly, you motion Chanyeol ahead of you in an unspoken command. He nods and takes out his own sword so that he can cut through the foliage.

As he trudges forward and you fall behind him, Jongin falls behind as well.

“Are you doing okay, Cap’n?” Jongin whispers. “You seem overwhelmed.”

“I am overwhelmed,” you state bluntly. Leaves and branches crunch under your boots. “This new situation with sirens and being tricked three times is wearing on my mind.” You glance from Chanyeol’s back to Jongin at your side. An empathetic pout rests on his face. You hold in the urge to pinch his lips to make him stop. “If it wasn’t stressing me out, then it wouldn’t be a trial now would it?” You try to make light of it. Jongin doesn’t seem moved by your attempt, so you set your lips in a line and focus back on the sweat dripping down the back of Chanyeol’s nape and into the soaking wet neckline of his blouse.

If you feel stressed, you can’t _imagine_ what Junmyeon is experiencing. These are trials meant to test his commitment to getting home. You know that that must be weighing on him in a way you couldn’t even begin to imagine. This could be the last chance he has to return home and if this fails then it will crush him.

Determination flaring, you turn your attention to your surrounds to look for any signs that Junmyeon has been in the area. You have to finish this for him. Find him. Recuperate. Get him home. Not just for your or his sake. But for the sake of the ocean. Things are much bigger than you.

You _have_ to. 

Minutes pass before you finally catch sight of something out of the ordinary. Something glimmers excitedly in your periphery. “Chanyeol wait. Do you guys see that?”

You point in the direction you see the shining object. Chanyeol and Jongin squint towards it; Jongin gasps.

“Is that a sword?” he walks forward unexpectedly, steps eager, and you and Chanyeol rush after him once the shock of him abruptly walking towards it has passed. A vine smacks you in your face; you pull it down with an unnecessary amount of strength.

You are _sick_ of this fucking island.

As your group approaches the object, it becomes clear that it is in fact a sword. The sword is driven into the dirt –nearly to the hilt- and the sun rays that are able to break through the trees above shine down and illuminate the metal. The sword looks like Junmyeon’s at first glance, and the emblem of a water drop etched into the bottom of the blade confirms it.

Jongin walks over and pulls it from the ground. You don’t even have a moment to consider that it may be a trap.

And then everything happens at once.

From the hole left in the ground where the sword was once buried, green mist sprays into the air. It’s light in color and smells floral –a bit like lavender. It fills the air quickly. Jongin drops the sword as if burned; you don’t see the body in the trees until it’s dropping down onto his back, tackling him to the ground.

Before you can call out, you’re knocked to the ground from the weight of a body landing on your back. Adrenaline pumps frantically and you muster the strength to toss the body off of you. “IT’S A TRAP!” you shout frantically, as if the words alone will save you at this point. With the words you take in a huge breath of the green mist and you feel your muscles weaken immediately. Laughter fills your ears as your eyes get heavier.

Poisonous gas.

The mist becomes thicker, and you can no longer find Chanyeol or Jongin among the fog.

“Get…help…” you murmur. The gas seeps into your lungs, into your pores, into any entry point that it can and paralyzes you. First your muscles, then your nerves, and then finally your brain. You slip into darkness without even being given the chance to put up a fight.

* * *

The recognizable sound of a rushing waterfall startles you awake. With a gasp your eyes fly open.

You can clearly remember the green mist and being tackled to the ground. Whatever was in the cloud that numbed you must have been some kind of a sleeping agent.

Everything is dark around you and stars speckle the sky above.

Hours must have passed since you were ambushed.

Though the sky is dark, the ground is alight with life. Bio-luminescent mushrooms and plants speckle the dirt around you and are placed deliberately to your left and create a path towards the waterfall. Your shoulders are tense from the amount of time you’ve spent with your arms tied behind your back and crushed against what feels like a dead body. You wiggle your fingers to make sure that you can feel your hands with your wrists bound. The rope around your middle, securing you to the other mass, is tight and digs painfully into your abdomen.

You crane your neck to the side to see _who_ exactly you’re tied to. Their neck is crooked in what has to be an _extremely_ uncomfortable position, but they’re definitely breathing and just sleeping at your side. If you had to guess from the neck and shirt that you can just barely see, you’d guess that this body is Chanyeol. When you look to your other side you see what has to be Jongin hunched over the rope asleep and tugging you and Chanyeol’s bodies in his direction. You struggle to sit up and alleviate the strain being put on your body trying to accommodate Jongin’s position.

“Fuck, why’d they tie us together like this?” you hiss under your breath. The rush of the waterfall is loud and you feel droplets of water reaching your skin even from where you’re tied up a ways away. No matter how you try to twist your hands you can't loosen the hold of the rope.

Jongin and Chanyeol remain asleep.

The three of you are going to die here.

You are ready to accept that fate, but you continue to search for any way to escape. You might die, but not without some kind of a struggle.

In the middle of you rubbing your wrists bloody and raw from pulling and scraping against the rope, the waterfall begins to split down the middle. It parts like a crystalline curtain to reveal what appears to be a cave hidden in the rock face. Jewels twinkle inside of it. Through the cascading curtains out steps a figure that has become oh-too-familiar to you. You scowl and tense in defense.

The blonde siren smiles when she finds you awake and staring her way. She looks relaxed in her gown of water, illuminated by the greenish glow of the plants and fungi around you. She looks as if she has not a single care in the world. After neutralizing you and your men, you suppose she doesn’t.

Languidly she struts towards you, almost like she’s gliding on air. Her hair billows behind her even with the distinct lack of wind blowing. She looks ethereal.

“Our first riser,” she coos. Her skin is as smooth as porcelain and you can see now that even when she smiles, there is not a single eye crinkle or smile line. Clasping her hands behind her back she leans to each side of you to take a look at each of the still sleeping crewmen you’re tied to. “You must not have inhaled as much as they did. Interesting,” she comments offhandedly –as if making an observation to use later in further research after an experiment.

You can’t stop yourself from asking, “Who are you?”

The smile doesn’t leave her lips.

“I know you’ve been watching us. Are you the one who planned our ambush? The one who had my crewman fall off the ship?”

“You’re an inquisitive one, aren’t you?” She chuckles. A hand with immaculately decorated nails reaches out to stroke your cheek. Her nails shine like freshly cut diamonds in the dark. “Not quite as dumb as you look either. I was almost sure that first illusion of your little _friend_ would be enough to distract you from the prince falling into the water.”

You flinch at her touch and feel anger at the insinuation that a single conversation with Baekhyun would mean more to you than Junmyeon’s _life_.

“Ah, but your question,” she yawns and stretches out long slim limbs. The crack of her bones is loud, unnatural. “I suppose I could spare you an explanation. You are to die here, so it would be kind to allow you the privilege to understand why you have met this fate, no?”

You decide not to respond. She continues on.

“I am the leader of this island, the head siren –a queen if you desire a more relatable title. I have led those who inhabit this island for _centuries_. We have seen many ships come and even fewer go, but you…strange one, are the first to _kill_ multiple of my subjects.” There is a flash of rage in her eyes before cold indifference settles back in them.

“Wouldn’t have happened if you'd stayed off my ship and left my crew alone,” you say curtly.

She rolls her eyes. “Where’s the fun in that?”

You pull against the ropes again. The knot is tied too well. You won’t be able to escape unless you cut it. Your jostling seems to wake Jongin –if the groggy groan from him is anything to go by.

“Where’s Junmyeon?”

“The prince?” she waves a hand in the air dismissively. “Do not worry. He is safe. We do not plan to hurt him yet. He is too useful.”

“Useful?”

“His father. That _cursed_ man,” she hisses. Insanity swirls in her eyes. “We were all beautiful, you know? Me and my subjects. Our beauty was coveted by everyone, but that _damned_ God Poseidon turned us into- into _this_.” She stands to her full height and the illusion of a beautiful maiden changes into that of the monstrous figure that matches all of the other sirens you’ve encountered. Bile immediately rises in your throat. “He turned us into these disgusting creatures all because we let a single ship escape our island unsunk.” She laughs bitterly, but in her natural state it comes out gravelly and deep.

Jongin moans again at your side. The siren’s eyes flicker towards him in anger. “One ship of men got away and now we are doomed to live out our days as _disgusting_ fish creatures. The prince will be our way back to beauty.” Her eyes slide back to you. She seems less unhinged as she continues on. “He will guarantee that we are restored to normal.”

Understanding hits you like a brick. “You’re going to use him as bait to get to Poseidon…”

You almost want to laugh at the ridiculousness of it. If his father cared about him, he would have stepped in _long_ ago. Junmyeon has told you about his estranged father and knowing what you’ve been told, you’d be truly astounded if he bothered to step in to save a _single_ demigod son when he has tens of other ones. Especially not one who isn’t even in line to be king of Atlantis.

“Good fucking luck with that,” you scoff out.

A displeased grumble emits from her throat before she transforms back into the blonde maiden.

“Krystal!” She turns around at the new voice.

Another woman comes bounding out of the cave –her hair black, lips plump and a similar (almost translucent) complexion. “Krystal,” she says again. “There is trouble on the eastern side of the island.”

“Thank you Sulli. I will be there shortly,” the blonde siren, Krystal, says to the other. You hope whatever the trouble is kills at least half of them.

The siren Sulli nods after the acknowledgement from her queen and then runs back off without a single glance in your direction. You’d be annoyed if you weren’t already completely _done_ with this entire situation.

“Looks like it’s about time that we kill you and your friends. Pity, I would have liked _you_ to join us,” she looks beyond you and you feel a tug in the rope.

Jongin is awake. He doesn’t speak but the noise of discomfort he makes at her comment towards him is enough of a response you think.

“I think he’ll pass,” you say mockingly.

“Quite the mouth on you.”

“I’d like to think it’s my charm,” you smile, all teeth, without any emotion. It’s as empty as you feel.

Her lip turns down in discomfort. Done humoring you after your comment, she turns back around and walks towards the waterfall.

Rude.

You watch her receding figure until the water closes behind her –naturally, as if never disturbed.

When you turn back around, you knock your head into Jongin’s. “What the fuck-”

“Sorry I was…watching her,” he explains. He moves back into his space and you both squirm uncomfortably against your restraints, surrounded only by the rumble of the waterfall.

Minutes pass of nothing.

What is there to say?

You know that it’s been far longer than a “reasonable amount of time” that you’ve all been missing. The protocol that Yixing should be following is to search for you all for a total of 12 hours and then leave you behind if there is no sign of you all. It’s been at least 8 since you left the ship and from the way the sirens were able to trick you all, you think that making it seem like you’ve all vanished or are dead for another 4 will be an easy enough scene to conjure up.

After all you still have no idea where they’re keeping Junmyeon.

At the very least, you hope that they find him and get out and continue the mission.

“So…” Jongin flinches hard next to you at the sudden sound of Chanyeol’s voice. You aren’t as shocked to find him suddenly awake. “We’re gonna die here, huh?”

You take in a large breath and pull at your sore wrists again only to be met with the same amount of resistance. “Yeah…looks like it,” you mutter tiredly. Jongin lets out a whine from the back of his throat.

“Any last minute confessions before we die?” Chanyeol throws out. “Anyone in love with me? Now is your last chance to say it, unfortunately I will have to reject you.”

You’re too tired to snort in annoyance. You settle for an exasperated exhale.

“I put shoe polish on my lips once because I thought it was lip balm,” Jongin rushes out in a single breath –as if the confession winds him.

There’s a pause of silence.

Chanyeol giggles. You blink dumbly.

“You _what_???” You ask.

“We’re about to die, I can’t confess without judgment? I thought it was lip balm okay?!”

“I once stole one of Kyungsoo’s swords and blamed it on you Jongin.” Chanyeol’s confession comes next in an equally nervous rush of words.

“That was _you_?!” Jongin asks Chanyeol incredulously. The rope pulls as he strains to look at Chanyeol. “Kyungsoo was pissed at me for _weeks_! When we get out of here I am _telling-_ ”

“YOU CAN’T! IF WE DON’T DIE HERE THEN _HE’LL_ KILL ME!” He lowers his voice in embarrassment. “You know I _like_ him-”

“YEAH WELL TOUGH SHIT YOU DESERVE IT!”

“WELL I KNOW YOU LIED TO SEHUN AND TOLD HIM THAT THE DOG HE HAD FOR A MONTH RIPPED HIS FAVORITE PANTS BUT IT WAS REALLY YOU AND I’LL TELL AND THEN WE’LL ALL FUCKING DIE!”

Jongin nearly _screeches._ You barely follow the conversation since this seems to be stuff that happened from before they joined your crew. You listen to the two of them go back and forth whining and complaining for longer than you’d think they could keep up an argument as you contemplate sharing your own secret.

The Chanyeol liking Kyungsoo thing is news to you, but you aren’t all that shocked by it. If the way Chanyeol seems to all but _live_ in the kitchens when he’s not needed in the artillery is anything to go by.

His confession makes you feel a bit braver about voicing your own. It feels like acid sitting on your tongue, but knowing that this could be your last night alive, you feel the urge to just _say it_. Aloud. You’ve been thinking it over for a few days and you may be dumb and stubborn but you are anything but _stupid_.

Jongin and Chanyeol are still going at each other and Jongin’s whining is almost teary as Chanyeol switches to lightly bullying the younger instead.

“I like Baekhyun.” You whisper the words to yourself, so soft that the crashing of the waterfall can drown it out. When neither of them acknowledge your nearly silent words, you sag forward in relief. You feel a bit lighter having said it and even more at ease knowing that you went unheard by the two men tied to you who are _still_ arguing childishly.

“Shut up I don’t actually hate you, big cry baby.” Chanyeol huffs out.

“Really?” Jongin sniffles.

“Yes really, dumbass.” Chanyeol’s head turns as far in your direction as he can given your positions. “Wait what did you say Captain?”

You’re quick to try and brush it off. “Nothing-”

“That she likes Captain Baekhyun but everyone already knows that. That’s not a confession,” Jongin warbles out before just flat out collapsing forward in another wave of sobs. You have no idea how he’s able to have a full on breakdown but still angrily complain about your words. You’re so stunned by his crying that you can’t even try and deflect or defend yourself.

“Jongin…are you…okay?” you ask tentatively.

“No! Chanyeol is mean and you’re dumb and so is Baekhyun and we’re gonna die and no one is going to be happy!” He manages to whine out.

“He’s fine he just gets emotional easily,” Chanyeol whispers to you loudly (read: not at all). “It’s okay Jongin. I still love you even though when you cry you get extra cranky at everyone because we get to see how ugly you look with snot on your face.”

“Fuck you!”

The outrageousness of your situation makes you start to laugh so loudly that you startle yourself. There’s so much going on, you’re laughing more from the fact that you cannot believe where you are and what is going on rather than you finding a single thing happening funny. Tears fall from your eyes as the laughs keep bubbling out of your chest.

“She’s officially lost it,” Chanyeol grumbles. “It was only a matter of time. You’re crying and she’s laughing. This is not how I imagined I’d spend my last night alive.”

“For people tied up, you all sound like you’re having a lot of fun.”

“Holy _shit_! Where’d you come from?” You can’t _see_ who Chanyeol is talking to, but you know the voice well enough to place it even in a thousand voices.

You try to crush the happiness that blossoms in your chest at being found.

At Baekhyun being here to save you.

You would retch at your reaction to him if there was any food in your stomach to throw up.

It’s not like he would leave Jongin and Chanyeol behind to die, you should have expected that he would come after them.

You close your eyes to try and squeeze away the last of the tears that had sprung to your eyes during your fit of uncontrolled laughter. The rope around your torso loosens and falls to your lap and you can _finally_ take in a full breath for the first time in hours. Once the rope around your wrist is cut free you open your eyes and bring your hands up to your face to take in the crusted blood encircling your hands.

You’re hefted off the ground by your upper arms.

Spots dot your vision and you wobble dizzily on your feet. When you blink them away you come face to face with Baekhyun. If you weren’t exhausted and seeing stars, you’d think that you might see relief in his eyes. Fingers come up to wipe away the last of the hysterical tears lingering below your eyelashes. He’s shaking a bit.

There’s blood on his face. A mix of blue and red.

He’s real.

You fall forward to hug him before you can stop yourself. You feel him tense in surprise but he doesn’t shove you away the way you anticipated. Before he can reciprocate or even process what you’ve done, you let go and move away. You realize that Baekhyun hadn’t come alone when you see Kyungsoo being crushed in Chanyeol’s embrace and Jongin sandwiching him in. Jongin is crying into Kyungsoo’s sweat soaked back.

“How’d you guys find us?” you ask.

Kyungsoo forcefully pushes his way out of Chanyeol and Jongin’s arms. He acts annoyed, but you see the signs of happiness on his face. “We-”

Baekhyun jumps in to cut Kyungsoo off. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s just get out of here.”

“We can’t leave without Junmyeon.”

“Minseok and Seulgi have gone after him. They’re going to meet us by the dinghies,” Kyungsoo supplies. You notice now that he is also covered in blue and red blood. He’s real too.

You look down at the red blood crusting over your wrists and find matching cuffs of blood around Chanyeol and Jongin’s.

“They can’t fake human blood,” you tell Kyungsoo and Baekhyun.

“We know. We figured that out after we killed a couple of them,” Baekhyun says. You wobble again on your feet but catch yourself. “We should get you guys back to the ship. You need medical attention.”

“I don't know what was in the gas they used on us, but I know that I’m going to pass out if I don’t get food and water soon,” Jongin says.

You nod in agreement and your knees buckle.

“Kyungsoo, carry me back I can’t feel my legs,” Chanyeol whines dramatically before draping himself over the shorter. Kyungsoo sighs but doesn’t put up much of a fight outside of grabbing a handful of Chanyeol’s hair and yanking it hard enough to pull a shout out of the taller.

Jongin shakes his head but a smile graces his lips as he follows behind them.

“Can you walk?” Baekhyun asks you.

You look away from the receding figures of the others to look at him. “I’m fine,” you murmur. He cocks an unbelieving eyebrow. Stubbornly you take a step forward.

And your knees nearly give in.

Baekhyun catches you before you can fall and laughs one of his stupid laughs where it fades off and he sounds like he’s swallowing a load of his own saliva. You let him toss your arm over his shoulder and hobble beside him like a newborn with little use of their legs.

His arm around your waist is secure and he’s patient as he leads you out the way he and Kyungsoo came in.

“Thank you,” you start quietly. “For coming back for us.”

“We couldn’t just let you _die_ ,” he scoffs out. “Yixing would have probably had me and my men killed without you and Junmyeon there as insurance to show we’re needed.”

You doubt that. Yixing wouldn’t do that. Minseok _maybe_ , but not Yixing. But you keep that to yourself.

For now, you’ll just enjoy being given the chance to live another day. And if you also indulgently enjoy the warmth of Baekhyun at your side holding you up…well, no one has to know about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not in love with this chapter bc it took me sooooo long to get out but also I feel like the writing is just???? weird ??? idk BUT here's the next chap. I'll start working on the next one and hopefully it wont be as long until the next update


	8. would you save me if I fell?

The two dinghies pulled on land is a welcome sight after all the hours you’ve spent at the mercy of the sirens.

Unfortunately, it seems as though your group is the first to have returned.

“Take them back to the ship. I’ll wait here for Minseok and Seulgi.” Kyungsoo instructs Baekhyun. He almost seems like the Captain of the two –his expression schooled and words confident.

You make a move towards Kyungsoo to offer your help when you feel fingertips press into your side, placating. Biting your tongue you hold in your words. The fingers relax against your side. Kyungsoo offers you a reassuring smile as if he can read the concern on your face.

“We’ll head back as soon as we’re all accounted for,” he says directly to you. He places a hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder and you take the opportunity to slip from Baekhyun’s hold –from his skinny fingers burning their touch into your side. Offering your own nod of acceptance, you turn away from the two of them to avoid having to meet either of their eyes.

You watch as Jongin collapses in the small boat waiting to take you back to your ship. Chanyeol folds his arms across his chest, watches carefully as you take a few steps in his direction. “Won’t he need backup of some kind?” you ask Chanyeol through the exhaustion seeping further into your muscles. You tilt your head towards the two men who came to save you.

Chanyeol smiles a tiny but profoundly proud smile. “No, Kyungsoo has got it. He’s a lot tougher than he looks.” His eyes shine as he looks beyond you. You follow his gaze and then immediately look down at your boots when you catch the fond look Kyungsoo sends to the taller; clearly having overheard his words.

Waddling over to the boat to collapse at Jongin’s side you decide not to dwell on the look. If Chanyeol thinks that Kyungsoo can handle himself then…you’ll trust them.

Baekhyun isn’t as easily convinced of his safety as you. “One hour. If I don’t see you all rowing back by then, I’m coming back for you,” he says sternly.

“Ay Captain,” Kyungsoo laughs out.

Kyungsoo is crushed in a hug by Chanyeol and then a shortened one by Baekhyun before they retreat to the boat where Jongin is fighting off sleep at your side.

Baekhyun takes control of the oars while Chanyeol pushes the boat into the water. As Kyungsoo’s figure gets smaller and farther away, you feel dread settling in your chest. The wave he sends your way feels more foreboding than you’re able to dwell on.

When you can no longer see him, and the sounds of nature surround you, you begin to feel sleep tugging you down into unconsciousness. Chanyeol and Baekhyun talk in quiet voices, but none of the words register in your mind –only the fact that they’re having a hushed conversation. Jongin inevitably dozes off and you stay awake, just so that you can watch your ship come into view.

Docked beyond the rock and reef of the island, it sits lazily atop the water. Its dark sails almost blend into the black of the night.

Baekhyun rows you all to safety the entirety of the near hour it takes to get to the ship. The distance from where Kyungsoo waits for the rest of your crew to your vessel is farther than you anticipated.

Once the conversation between Baekhyun and Chanyeol has died off, you feel the shift in energy as everyone prepares to wait for the other half of the rescue team to arrive.

You shake Jongin awake and Chanyeol helps you begin the climb up the side of the ship. Baekhyun works on securing the boat.

As soon as both of your feet are on deck, Yixing is at your side holding you in a firm hug.

“You made it,” he sighs out in relief.

“Barely.” You grimace and let your muscles give in. You fall with an uncoordinated drop to the ground. Jongin crawls up the ladder and lies face flat on your right. Not even half awake as he lifted himself on deck. Chanyeol and Baekhyun have to step over him just to get on the ship. They plop on the ground not far from you –Baekhyun catching his breath and Chanyeol finally succumbing to the exertion used throughout the day. The adrenaline running out and jelly settling in his bones. Your own adrenaline ran out long ago.

“Can you make it to the infirmary?” Yixing asks, crouched down in front of you.

You think that you could, but honestly you really don’t fucking _feel_ like it. “No, not right now.”

Yixing nods sympathetically and pats your calf. “I’ll bring the supplies out here then. Wait for me,” he instructs. Standing up and looking quickly over the four of you sprawled across the deck, he kicks Baekhyun in the leg with his boot. “Get up and gauge injuries. I’ll be back.”

A long suffering groan is the only reply he gets.

You close your eyes and rest your back against the wooden railing of the ship.

The rest of your crew is nowhere to be seen. It doesn’t surprise you. If you had to guess you would assume that it was anywhere from 2 to 4 in the morning. What’s the point in everyone on the crew staying awake above deck with worry when only a handful of people are reasonably needed for a rescue mission?

If anything, you hope that everyone else is getting plenty of rest so that when Junmyeon is brought back, you all can continue the mission. You can’t afford another chunk of lost time like that after you and Baekhyun were rescued from the island. You’re a week behind your nonexistent schedule. You hope that the lost time won’t be detrimental to the mission.

The feeling of a hand gently grabbing your forearm shakes you from your thoughts. You open your eyes figuring Yixing is back to look at your injuries. You don’t expect to be met with the sight of Baekhyun looking down at the blood encrusting your wrist with a small frown on his face.

You notice that your hand is shaking in his grasp. Clenching your fist and pulling away to try and hide it, you’re immediately met with resistance.

“Don’t,” he murmurs. His grip on your arm doesn't relax until you stop trying to pull away. From the corner of your eye you see Yixing tending to Jongin while Chanyeol dozes off on his back at Yixing’s side.

With long and careful fingers, Baekhyun turns over your hand to look at the full damage of your wound before his frown deepens and he lets out a puff of air.

“What?”

“You’re a fucking idiot.”

You yank your hand away from him and hold back a hiss of pain at the stinging it causes your wrist. He lets out another breath of air, this one more annoyed than the last.

He reaches out and yanks both of your arms towards him, and when you let out a noise of pain his irked expression melts into something softer. Something apologetic.

This time you don’t fight him as he takes a look at your reddened, cracking skin. “You’re an _idiot_ ,” he emphasizes again, looking into your eyes pointedly. You frown. “But I’m going to help you heal anyway.”

“Thanks,” you breathe out sarcastically.

He settles on his butt and drags a bucket that had been partially hidden behind him to his side. You fold your legs beneath yourself and let your arms lie limp between the two of you. He twists out the water from the rag sitting in the bucket. You hear Chanyeol whining somewhere near you and Yixing hushing him like a parent would their noisy child.

The feeling of the cold rag on your skin forces you to focus your attention fully on the man in front of you. Baekhyun wipes farthest from the actual wound and works inward.

It doesn’t start to hurt until he begins to wash off the thick layer of blood that had caked right above where the rope dug in the deepest.

The sting is so abrupt that you straighten in your spot and choke out a pitiful moan of anguish. His eyes flicker from your wrist to your face only momentarily. “You deserve this for turning your wrist into shredded meat,” he laments.

“Fuck you,” you whimper out.

His lips quirk up in amusement. The rag dips into the bucket; red seeps into the once clear water staining it crimson. Baekhyun presses it to your skin again. It doesn’t hurt as much as it did before.

A pout settles on his lips as he concentrates on disinfecting and bandaging your wounds. You watch his face closely as he works in silence. The careful cleaning of your blood, the attentive way he tries to avoid hurting you where he can, the soft and reassuring press of his fingertips against your skin when you tense in pain. All of the actions only reaffirm the truth you’ve come to accept.

You like Baekhyun.

You fucking like _Baekhyun_.

You like Baekhyun and you told Jongin and Chanyeol.

You like Baekhyun and he’s cleaning the blood from your skin with so much care that you could trick yourself into believing that he actually cares about _you_.

He’s probably just tired and being gentle because he lacks the energy to be a dick. That would be reason enough for you –after all he _did_ row the four of you an hour to safety. Even you wouldn’t have the energy to continue hating someone after that.

When the bandage is done being wrapped and the blood is no longer coating your arms, Baekhyun stands up and tosses the dirty water into the ocean.

“Captain, we’ll get you all something to eat and drink, but first we should get each of you to a bed,” Yixing says gently. You can only nod at his words –body giving in to exhaustion. “You take the Captain and I’ll get Sehun to come help me get Chanyeol and Jongin below deck.”

“Me?” Baekhyun asks in shock.

“Yes, _you-_ ”

“Yixing I can walk there on my own it’s really fi-” Yixing’s glare is enough to quiet you instantly.

“I _said_ : you take the Captain to her room. Someone will bring you food afterwards,” his pitch drops angrily.

Baekhyun squats back down immediately to hoist you to your feet. You put as much energy as you have left into getting up. When Baekhyun’s arm is wrapped around you again and you’re leaning into his side, Yixing breaks out into a pleased grin. Smiling as if his voice hadn’t been threatening a minute before.

“Good. Now go,” he commands. Baekhyun nods quickly and ushers you towards your quarters. 

You hobble out from under his arm and flop heavily onto your bed as he closes the door behind himself. Baekhyun leans against your closed door and lets out an exhale.

“That man is fucking terrifying,” he says.

“There’s a reason he’s quartermaster,” you manage to say. Yixing seems nothing but gentle and kind. Despite the fact that he genuinely _is_ gentle and kind, it’s also a mask that he uses to fool others. A facade he knowingly uses to his advantage. Behind Minseok, Yixing is the most experienced with a gun, and behind you, the best with a blade.

He’s smart about when he actually decides to strike, and can be more cold-blooded than he lets on, but he is still the sweetest person you have ever come to know.

The urge to change clothes and fall asleep in bed is stronger now that you’re surrounded by the familiarity of your room, but you have to stay awake until Junmyeon arrives. Your clothes are dirty with blood of all kinds; dirt and mud coats you like a second skin.

You bend down to unlace your boots. You figure it’s the least you can do to get comfortable until all your men are present and accounted for. It hurts a bit to flex and bend your wrists, but it’s not unbearable. The stinging from where the rope was rubbing into your abdomen is a bit more apparent now. It has turned into the most painful part of moving your body.

A smack to the back of your hand has you pulling away from your shoes.

“You do know that you can ask for help every now and then right?” Baekhyun grumbles out. You open your mouth to protest and utter out a ‘what the fuck?’ when he bends down to unlace your shoes for you.

“What are you doing?”

“Helping you take your shoes off. I’m sure it hurts to bend like that.”

You pause. He slips the first boot off your foot and tosses it haphazardly to the side. “Baekhyun!” you scold.

“Relax. It’s just a shoe.”

The other comes off and gets tossed to the side more aggressively than the first. When you snort at the careless treatment of your boot, Baekhyun smiles and hides it behind a cough and scrunch of his nose.

“You smell rancid,” he says.

“You don't exactly smell like lavender or fresh bread either-”

“Shut up.”

“You started it.”

A pause.

“I’ll get you water so that you can clean yourself up. Wait here.” He moves towards the door and then quickly turns around to point at you with narrowed eyes. “Do _not_ fucking move.”

You roll your eyes and wave him away with weak flicks of your fingers.

Once he’s gone you count to 15 before standing on your feet, walking to your mirror, and lifting your shirt to look at the rough darkening line that colors the top of your abdomen. It isn’t bleeding, but you can tell that it will bruise darker and be tender for days to come. Prodding at it with gentle fingertips you grimace at the pain any touch creates.

_You do know that you can ask for help every now and then right?_

You scoff out a laugh. As if he’d help even if you asked.

The two of you are friendly now, as you have to be given the circumstances. You doubt that any kindness Baekhyun offers you extends passed respectful ally-ship for the sake of your crews.

You can’t read his mind. You don’t know what he’s thinking or feeling, but his actions lend towards your theory of civil respect. Nothing less, but definitely nothing more.

How you ended up being the one liking him one-sidedly you’ll never fucking understand, but it bothers the ever-loving _fuck_ out of you. 

Your door is pushed open without preamble and Baekhyun stumbles in balancing food in one hand, a bucket _and_ a cup of water in the other.

He looks so dumb.

He looks cute.

“Need help?” you ask.

“I got it,” he puffs out.

Hypocrite.

The cup spills out half of its contents when he sits it on the table. The food doesn’t spill but it clatters noisily as it’s set down clumsily. He sits the large bucket of water on the ground roughly as if it has personally angered him. First collecting his breath and glaring down at the bucket for a second longer, he then turns around to face you.

“I thought I told you not to move.”

“I didn’t realize you were my master,” you reply petulantly. Shuffling over and downing what’s left of the water in the cup, you smack your lips in satisfaction.

Baekhyun grumbles under his breath and sits heavily in the chair next to you while you continue to stand and pick at the food on the tray.

Vegetable buns and porridge. Boring, but it will fill you up.

“Are you not sitting because of bruise on your stomach?” Baekhyun asks out of nowhere. The bun you were holding up to your mouth after a bite gets stuck in your throat.

“What?” you cough out in horror. How did he find out?

He reaches towards the hem of your shirt and you flinch away. He balls his hand around air and brings it back to his lap. For a second, you feel bad for your reaction, but you cover it up by busying yourself with rearranging the half eaten bun next to the untouched one.

“Chanyeol and Jongin also have bruises around where the rope was tied around you all.” You frown down at the food at his words. “Were you not going to mention it?”

You know this is heading towards an argument.

You exhale and turn your body to face him head on.

“To you? No. I probably would have told Yixing if it got bad enough,” you say evenly.

His expression turns sour. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“If it got bad enough? Means if I-”

“No. You know exactly what I’m talking about,” he cuts in.

You exhale to calm the beating of your heart, pumping double time in preparation for yet another screaming match that you know is inevitable. “You and I both know that you’re just here being nice for the sake of everyone else. I know you don’t really care or want to bother patching me up, so I don’t bother asking for you to put in any more effort than necessary. Yeah, I’m bruised and it hurts to touch. What do you care? What does it matter if you know or not? It’s not like I’m going to die of it and it’s not like it would affect you in any way.”

Baekhyun closes his eyes and roughly drags his fingers through his bangs. Holding in a shout through closed lips, he sounds like he’s growling in frustration.

You clench your fist, bracing yourself for the explosion.

But…

It never comes.

Baekhyun doesn’t shout, he doesn’t scream, he doesn’t curse. All he does…is laugh. A short tired laugh. More an exhale of breath than a laugh really.

You deflate in confusion. Fingers uncurling, eyebrows rising, head cocking to the side.

“You’re right. It doesn’t matter if I know or not. It doesn’t matter and it doesn’t affect me in any way. I just-” He brushes both of his hands through his hair and lets out a long suffering sigh. “Whatever. I’m tired of arguing with you.”

He walks towards the door and you stare, mouth agape. He’s…not going to fight you? “I- Baekhyun wait I-” you reach out to grab the sleeve of his shirt. You barely catch any of the material between your thumb and index finger.

He stops but doesn’t turn around. “Baekhyun, look at me…please.”

Trying to lessen the distance and get a better hold of his shirt you walk closer. He refuses to face you.

You have to thread your fingers through his to get him to react to you. His eyes close and he groans quietly in defeat before turning around. “I…I…”

“ _What_? What do you _want_? Just let me go.”

He pulls but you hold on tighter. Knuckles going light from how tight you’re gripping his fingers. “What do you _want_?” he asks again.

“I don't…I don’t know. I …” your voice catches in your throat.

He scoffs in disbelief.

“Let me go-”

“No!” You squeeze his hand again in yours and look down where the warmth of his hand seeps into yours. “No…” you repeat again, softer. More honest. More vulnerable. You bite your lip to hold back the words that want to slip out. Keeping your fingers twined, you let your free hand rest on his arm.

There’s no talking. Only your rapid breaths as you think through your next movement. You don’t know how long he’ll stand there before walking off and leaving you alone in your room. Alone with all the words that you’re too cowardly to say.

You slide your hand from his arm to his shoulder. From his shoulder to his neck.

A shiver runs through his body as he leans into the touch. His neck has always been sensitive. You’ve known that about him for years.

His fingers squeeze against yours. When you finally make it to his face, hand cupping his cheek as you look into his eyes and hope –no you _pray_ that maybe what you can’t say you can show.

Show through your actions. Show through your eyes.

You take a step forward to close the last of the distance between you, chests touching. Hearts pumping, chests rising and falling as one. His fingers slip from yours and rest heavily at the small of your back, holding you even closer.

He exhales shakily, tongue peeking out to wet his lips.

“Is this your way of asking to kiss me?” he asks –nervousness uncharacteristically creeping in at the edges. You smile softly. You thumb at his bottom lip and watch his mouth fall open in response to the touch. His stupid wet stupid pink lips.

“Can…can I?” you breathe out.

“You’ve never had to ask before,” he whispers a breath away from your lips.

You want a taste of him again. You want to surround yourself with him and to never forget the sight of him, the smell of him, the feeling of him. You want _him_. Every piece of him. The annoying argumentative side. The ugly jealous side. The headstrong proud side. The beautiful caring side. The sweet kind side.

All of it.

You’d just have to lean in a bit more to complete the kiss. Just a centimeter more.

“Captain! Junmyeon is back!”

You pull away and smack a hand to Baekhyun’s mouth to push his face away from yours.

“Junmyeon!?” Excitement runs through your veins, the moment from mere moments ago already evaporated. You don’t even care that Yeri just walked in and caught you in a semi-compromising position with Baekhyun.

 _Junmyeon is back_.

You shove passed Baekhyun to run beyond Yeri and out to the main deck. You don’t care that your abdomen smarts or that Baekhyun lets out a sound of frustration behind you.

You have to make sure that Junmyeon is okay. You have to see him with your own eyes.

You stumble out to the main deck and look around the lantern lit ship frantically. You _finally_ catch sight of him held on both sides by Kyungsoo and Minseok. Seulgi is standing in front of Yixing, mouth moving rapidly as she motions wildly from Junmyeon to Yixing. Her hair matted with blue blood and a red slice down her arm, thick with drying blood.

Your excited stumbling slows to a worried walk as you take in the scene. Junmyeon’s left leg is lifted a bit off the ground and his expression is twisted in pain. There’s fresh blood on his cheek and his clothes are heavy with what you hope is water. Minseok and Kyungsoo look drained at his sides. Purple streaks their skin, a mix of their blood and that of the sirens.

At least they’re all real.

Minseok sees you coming first.

“Captain! You’re okay!”

You smile sadly. “I should be the one saying that. You all look terrible…”

Kyungsoo laughs out tiredly. Junmyeon smiles dazedly. He looks beat.

You punch him in the chest.

“Ouch!”

“Dumb fuck. Getting pushed off the ship,” you growl out.

He smiles lazily. “I missed you too.”

He unloops himself from Kyungsoo and Minseok to hop over and wrap you in a weak hug. You hug him back just as gently, holding in tears that threaten to spill out and over. “You had me so worried.”

“I know, but I’m okay. We’re okay,” he tries to soothe. Pulling away you cup his cheeks and scan his face sadly. He’s dirty and looks as dead tired as you’re sure he feels. You brush the hair off his forehead tenderly and thumb off a spot of mud on his cheek. “You should let me go. I think your boyfriend is getting jealous again,” he tries to joke, but his voice comes out weak.

“Again?” you question as he limps back to Minseok. Wait… “ _Boyfriend_?!” you hiss.

Despite his exhaustion, despite how awful a day it’s been, Junmyeon laughs. He can still manage to laugh.

“Junmyeon, stop moving around,” Yixing barks out.

You see Baekhyun walking up to your side with his arms over his chest and a childish pout on his lips. Even if you didn’t know him as well as you do, you’d be able to tell that he’s upset.

 _Boyfriend_.

You cringe and take an inconspicuous step farther away from him.

“Is he going to be alright Yixing?” Seulgi asks.

Yixing prods at Junmyeon’s obviously injured leg. “His leg is broken, but he’ll be alright. I’ll have to reset it and look him over for any other injuries, but it doesn’t seem any worse than that.”

“We’ll give you the debriefing in the morning Cap’n. I think everyone needs a good night’s sleep,” Minseok offers.

“Yeah…let’s…reconvene in the morning. Everyone wash up, attend to your injuries and then we’ll get everyone together and figure out what the fuck happened and what the fuck we’re going to do next.” You reach toward the bruise growing in pain on your stomach but lower your fingers when you feel Baekhyun’s eyes on you from your periphery. You clear your throat. “Let’s try to keep moving. We can’t let this slow us down for long.”

“I’ll take care of Junmyeon. You all go rest,” Yixing says, taking it upon himself to guide your injured first mate to the infirmary.

You wait in your place until nearly everyone has cleared the deck.

 _Nearly_ everyone.

“Baekhyun,” you call. He startles in his spot still pouting at your side. You sigh and lick your lips nervously. He blinks down at them dumbly. “I need help getting my clothes off so that I can bathe.”

A toothy smile plasters itself across his face and you want to kiss him.

God. Stupid. So fucking _dumb_.

“Don’t say anything. Just help me out of my clothes and then fucking leave my room so I can clean up.”

He nods slowly. “Yeah of course. Why else would you want me to help get you naked- _ouch_.”

You scowl and raise your fist to punch him in the chest again. “Don’t make me regret asking for your help.”

He smiles again, gentler, eyes shining with an emotion you haven’t seen since you were on the island together. When he brings his hand up to your fist and wedges his fingers between yours to bring your intertwined digits down, you let him.

Mostly shocked, and a bit flustered by the action, you gape at him.

“Let’s go.” With another squeeze of your fingers that sends tingles up your spine you let Baekhyun guide you back to your room.

* * *

“I’m okay.”

“But your leg-”

“I _said_ I’m okay.”

“But what about-”

“ _Captain_ ,” Yixing says with a frown. You cross your arms over your chest. “Junmyeon is fine. All of his injuries are superficial and his leg will heal fine. No one was severely hurt by the sirens.”

“We can’t say the same for the sirens though,” Seulgi adds with a bright smile.

Minseok nods along. “As far as we could tell, we killed most of them. The ones that attacked us, the ones guarding you all, and the ones we found trying to escape or hide.”

“How many did you all kill?” Jongin asks with wide eyes.

Minseok and Seulgi share a look before silently coming to an approximate number. “Around 60,” Minseok says simply.

“60? With just the 4 of you?” you stare at the group impressed.

“We had planned on getting you all out quietly,” Kyungsoo supplies. “But _some people_ were more determined to get you all out of there than others and botched the plan,” he says with a glance across the table.

You cock your head to the side and open your mouth to investigate when Baekhyun jumps in.

“It doesn’t matter. Everyone is back safe and sound. It all worked out,” he huffs out.

“Yeah I guess,” you say slowly, casting a glance in his direction. He rolls his eyes and flicks at a wad of parchment sitting on the table. “Everyone is safe, but I was worried that wasn’t going to be the case. They’d said that they were going to kill us, but keep Junmyeon alive. Since it’s not as though we’d have been able to get out on our own, Krystal told us of their plan. I wasn’t really worried about Junmyeon’s immediate safety as much as I was about him being found even if we were killed.”

“Krystal?” Seulgi asks.

“The leader of the sirens,” Jongin supplies. “She was the one in charge. Blonde hair, really pretty, evil as fuck.”

“Was her appearance all that important?”

“She _was_ really pretty,” you defend Jongin from Baekhyun’s judging question.

He rolls his eyes and kicks your ankle under the table. You hold back a smile.

“She’s probably dead now right?” Chanyeol chimes in.

“Who knows, who cares. We survived the second trial all alive. Isn’t that enough?” Junmyeon’s voice is grim.

You give him a concerned look.

“You said they were going to keep Junmyeon alive? They told you that?” Yixing asks.

“They told me the same,” Junmyeon adds. He shifts in his seat. “Don’t know why, but I wasn’t really in a place to do the interrogating.”

“It was for Poseidon. To get to your father. They thought that using you as a hostage would be enough to get him to turn them back to the way they were before they were monsters,” you inform him.

His expression darkens. “My father…” you place a hand on his thigh to calm him. He takes in a breath. “Well they wouldn’t have gotten shit. They’d have been better off killing me and then leaving my body on his doorstep if they even wanted him to even _blink an eye_ over me.”

“Junmyeon,” Yixing starts worriedly.

“It doesn’t matter.” Junmyeon brushes off your hand and settles his angry expression into something blank. “Their plan wouldn’t have worked, and we can move forward to the final mission.” The finality in his voice is like a bucket of cold water on everyone in the group.

Chanyeol coughs into his arm nervously.

“Uhm…well then I guess we should start preparing for the last mission then,” Jongin starts tentatively.

“There’s not much we can do. We just have to keep sailing and…wait,” Baekhyun says. You sigh tiredly and close your eyes. A hand rests on your thigh and rubs softly in reassurance. You don’t have the heart to open your eyes to confirm who is trying to comfort you although you already _know_ , internally.

You cross your legs and the hand disappears, you open your eyes again. “In that case, let’s keep going. We've made it this far and we’re nearly finished.” You look at each of the faces at the table. “We’ll have Junmyeon use the compass to make sure we’re still heading the right way—” _the compass_.

Where is the compass?

The last place you remember seeing it was on your nightstand a few days ago. You hadn’t touched it, but it was definitely no longer where you’d left it.

“Oh shit I think I lost the compass-”

The compass clatters on the table in front of you. You blink at it in surprise.

Why did Baekhyun have the compass?

Junmyeon grabs it and opens it wordlessly. You can’t get yourself to see where it points, your focus on Baekhyun and trying to figure out what he was doing with the compass on his person.

“I’ll get Sehun and Yeri so that we can continue to sail on,” Junmyeon mumbles.

“I’ll help you,” Yixing offers. He stands and hands Junmyeon his crutches.

“I should get lunch ready for the crew,” Kyungsoo says softly. “Chanyeol…”

“I am your humble servant just tell me what you need me to do and I will do it-”

“…just stay out of my way.” Kyungsoo stands and leaves the room with Chanyeol scrambling to his feet behind him.

With a sigh, Jongin stands as well. “Captain I’ll prepare some ointment for your injuries. Can you come to the infirmary when you are finished?”

You offer a smile and watch as he exits and Junmyeon and Yixing hobble out behind him.

“Meeting adjourned I guess,” you mutter to yourself. You push yourself away from the table so that you can get the soothing cream from Jongin to put over your rope burns. Minseok grabs your wrist to stop you from leaving.

Seulgi and Baekhyun leave the room together laughing in quiet voices. You blink after them and then to Minseok’s hand around your wrist.

“I don’t think Junmyeon is going to be himself for a while.”

“What? What do you mean?”

He exhales and removes his hand. “I know you also noticed how he seemed a bit…” Dark. Scary. Grim. “…off. With everything going on I don’t think that he’ll be returning to normal for a while.”

You set your lips in a line. “I know…I agree. He’s…he has a lot to deal with and I don’t think we’ll be able to relieve him of the burdens and darkness settling in his heart. I’m just worried that it all will put out his light forever.”

“You know him Captain. Junmyeon is smart and strong. He just…needs time. He needs time and for us to just be there for him until we can get him home. He’ll bounce back in no time.” You nod in agreement. “ _You_ on the other hand…”

Your eyes widen in shock. You point a finger at yourself. “Me?”

“I’m worried about how all of this is going to affect you.”

“I’m fine. I’m going to be fine. I want to get Junmyeon home safe, that’s all that matters. If he’s happy then I’ll be happy.”

He frowns. “I don’t quite believe that, but if you think so then I’ll believe you for now. You’ve been handling everything well so far, so maybe you’re right.” He pauses and looks towards the cracked door of your quarters. “I wonder if that’s because you’ve found someone you can lean on when he’s gone...”

His words settle uncomfortably in your mind.

“Minseok what are you trying to say?”

He turns away from the door and plasters on a soft grin. “Nothing. I’m just speaking to myself.” He raises a hand to pat the top of your head affectionately. “I just hope you will also continue to be strong through to the end.”

“You’re weirding me out-”

“Blockhead,” he laughs as he flicks you lightly in the forehead. You scowl at him. “Oh…and _he_ brought the compass with him when we went looking for you all. He seemed convinced it would help him find you all. Him and Kyungsoo.”

You narrow your eyes at the sudden shift in topic while Minseok stretches out his shoulders lazily. “I should go see what our new chef and sous-chef are making for lunch. I’m starving.” Without another word he struts out of the room.

You’re left alone to your thoughts.

Baekhyun took the compass to Isla de Sirena as a way to find Jongin and Chanyeol? Smart. You’ll give it to him.

When did he discover that it would point to one of them?

You walk towards the infirmary, mind hard at work trying to figure out how the compass would have worked to get Baekhyun to you all.

“The compass points to the thing you want most in the world and it brought him to us…” He wanted to find his crewmen most in the world? He must really appreciate them. Can it detect things like that? Would it have pointed to just one of them specifically? Would he have had to think about just one of them really hard to get it to point to them? Of the two of them you figure that he is closest to Jongin. Maybe the thing he wanted most in the world was to find Jongin and then he’d have looked for you and Chanyeol afterwards. Why would it point to Jongin of all the things in the world that he could want?

Unless…

You pause at the door of the infirmary as realization hits you so hard you have to physically stop moving.

“He’s in love with Jongin oh shit- oh SHIT!” A hand comes around your forearm and pulls you away from the infirmary and into a corner hidden from view of the rest of the ship. A small space between the infirmary and the entrance to the crew cabins.

“What are you mumbling to yourself about?” Baekhyun asks you quietly, his voice nothing higher than a whisper as he talks directly into your ear.

The sound sends a pleasant shiver down your spine. But then you remember what you _were_ mumbling about and you push him back just a tad so that his lips aren’t almost touching the shell of your ear.

 _Baekhyun is in love with Jongin_.

Heat rushes to your cheeks. Embarrassment. You’re embarrassed. He’s always seemed to dote on him. They’re constantly at each other’s side and worried about each other. More so than they are anyone else…

Can your situation get any more pathetic?

“Wait…are you okay? You seem ill all of a sudden,” Baekhyun says. Is he worried about you? You can’t tell.

“Y-yeah. I’m fine I’m completely fine.” You straighten in your spot and realize belatedly that he’s boxed you in against wall. The embarrassment intensifies at the position. Him leaning over you and the closeness of your bodies causing desire to rush through your veins unbidden. You feel dizzy. “Did- uh did you uh need something?”

He blinks twice before you start to see the color rising up his neck and ears.

“I…” He swallows and his eyes dart across your face.

His drawn out silence makes you more nervous, more embarrassed. The heat rushing up your face sure matches that of what you can see on his.

Finally he exhales heavily and lets his head drop. “This is so stupid,” he grumbles to himself.

You have to agree.

When he lifts his head you see a confidence in his eyes that wasn’t there a few seconds ago. The pink is still visible in his face but there is a set determination in his eyes that captures your attention.

And then his lips press against yours.

The first touch of his lips surprises you. It’s nothing more than a peck. A simple connection of lips, but it’s a question.

It’s a request for permission that he leaves for you to answer when he pulls away and waits –looks into your eyes for your response. Desire flares through the pit of your stomach and you answer back without hesitation.

Without words. Without thought and without doubt and without shame.

You lean forward and kiss his lips again. Harder. More desperate.

You throw your arms around his shoulders and pull him against you, letting his weight press you harder against the wall.

You’ve been wanting to do this since last night _…_ You wonder if maybe he feels the same.

His body presses harder into yours, hands grab at the softness of your body as if it’s the only thing keeping him above water. As if this moment has thrown him into the deepest part of the sea and you're a life preserver.

He could like whoever he wants, be in love with whoever he wants, but you don’t think that you’re ready to give this up. Ready to give up how good it feels to touch and be touched by him. To feel like maybe you’re his just for moments like these.

_Not yet._

When his hand slides up to rest just under your breast you have to bite your lip to hold in the pitiful moan his touch pulls from you. He smiles against your lips and kisses the corner of them, drags his lips to your ear.

“I haven’t even touched you and you’re already making such dirty noises,” he says with the amusement of someone far too happy with the knowledge that he can cause your undoing with the smallest ministrations.

 _Oh._ So that’s how he wants to play?

You hook your leg around his calf and drag his lower half closer to you before you press your tongue to the skin of his neck and lick as slowly as you can right up to his ear. He keens and shakes so hard at the act that you think he might cum his pants right then. With a kiss to his ear in encouragement when you feel him rolling his hips against you to relieve some of the pressure building in his cock, you snort right into his shoulder.

“You planning on dry humping me out in the open? The least you could do is at least fuck me if you’re trying to get into exhibitionism,” you joke.

He pulls away quickly and there is nothing but seriousness in his eyes when he says, “Don’t tempt me.”

Your mouth dries at the ~~(threat? Promise?)~~ words.

Someone fake gags. “Gross…” A pause and intake of breath. “THEY’RE FUCKING WHERE EVERYONE SLEEPS NOW!”

You yelp and go to push Baekhyun away when he pulls himself closer and hides his face in your neck.

 _Oh yeah._ You’ll give him some time to gather himself.

“I’m going to kill Sehun I fucking swear,” he growls out. You don’t try to hold in the laugh that bubbles from your chest. Baekhyun whines pathetically against you; you figure you should at least untwine yourselves. “Don’t move,” he starts. “Please. Just…stay like this for a little while,” he murmurs. You hear the tinge of embarrassment in his voice and decide to spare him any more torture by staying where you are and letting your fingers idly brush through his hair.

“God. Fuck. Is no place on this ship sacred? I swear to Poseidon…” Kyungsoo grumbles when he peaks around the corner, Sehun laughing soundlessly behind him.

“He’s crying. Just give him a couple of minutes.” You pout and stroke his hair more purposefully.

“Eh?” You feel Baekhyun pulling away to deny your claim so you tug him closer.

“Oh it’s okay, you don’t have to cry I understand. It’s perfectly normal to experience erectile dysfunction at such a young age as yours-”

“I am going to fucking kill _you_ ,” he pulls away fully and you can see his face turning red with angry embarrassment. You glance down and notice that at least his arousal isn’t as apparent. Mission accomplished?

“I’m going to vomit,” Kyungsoo laments dramatically before stalking away. Sehun comes over with concern painting his face, his early amusement nowhere to be seen.

“Captain you need to eat more eel. I read once that eel is great for male virility and will help you. You could have come talked to us you don't have to be embarrassed about it-”

You let Sehun’s speech cover you in your escape to the infirmary. You catch Baekhyun’s angry eyes briefly and offer and full smile in return before leaving him trapped in the corner.


	9. do you fear death?

“We need to find port soon. We’re running low on supplies.”

“I know. I’m not sure how much longer we have to keep sailing. I’m not sure how much longer we _can_ keep sailing.” You frown down at the map on the table while Yixing fiddles with the compass next to you.

A week. It’s been a week since the last trial and a week since there has been a single sign that your crew is still on the right track. No new hints, no change in song, nothing.

Each day that passes places a heavier weight on your shoulders. Time is ticking by but there’s no way to know just how much time is left on your clock. On Junmyeon’s clock.

Your first mate has been out of it since Isla de Sirena. He barely comes above deck for anything that he isn’t directly summoned for. Everyone can sense the uneasiness in his attitude; can see it on his face. The disquiet in his mind is so loud that you can feel it just by being around him.

“Have you talked to him?” Yixing’s voice breaks you out of your worried thoughts.

“Huh?”

“Junmyeon. Have you talked to him?”

You shake your head at his words and trace an invisible line across the map from where you started to where you are now. A quick stroke of your finger across the paper that represents all that you’ve gone through this month. It’s almost funny to see all of your near death experiences, injuries, loss, and pain being reduced to a simple 2 second line made with your fingertip.

“I’m afraid to,” you finally admit. You tap your finger against the map and look up. “This is the first time I’ve seen him like this in years. The last time was around when the three of us first started trying to get him home, remember?”

The frown that rests on Yixing’s face deepens at your words. “Junmyeon just gets lost in his mind sometimes. It happened before and he recovered, so he'll be fine this time too.”

He’ll be fine this time too. But what if he won’t be?

You focus your eyes back to the table and the writing on the map. “Do you think it would be better if we just turned around? What if we just…stopped all of this? If we went back to the way things were before?” Yixing’s silence pushes you to continue on, to fight against the heaviness settling in the air. “Maybe Jun doesn’t even really want to go home. You saw how he reacted when we talked about his dad; he’s been depressed since the start of this so maybe going home isn’t the best thing for him-”

“Not the best thing for him? Or not the best thing for you?” Your mouth dries and you clench your jaw to keep from saying anything else. “Captain, I understand that you are worried and that this is…a big change, but you cannot honestly think that going back to normal is the best option. You know what is going on with the ocean, you know that he needs to go back; you know that he misses home and he was never meant to be with us forever. This was always going to happen. This ending has been written from the start.

“It would be best for you to accept that now before you lose your chance to really say goodbye to him.”

You laugh dryly. “Why are you making it sound like we’re never going to see him again after this?”

“Captain-”

“We’re going to take him home. He’s going to fix things there and then he’ll come back to us. Don’t-” you swallow hard “Don’t phrase it like we’re never going to see him again. He left Atlantis once, and he can do it again.”

You feel Yixing looking at you. Disappointed or concerned you aren’t sure.

Maybe a mix of both.

Yixing sighs out your name with enough heartbreak coating the sound to feel like a punch in your stomach. “I’m not going to let you sit here in denial. Junmyeon is going home, and the chance that we will ever see him again after this is very, _very_ low. You need to accept that now while you still have time with him. He knows this. I know this. The crew knows this. _You_ know this. Pretending that it won’t happen will only make it that much more painful.”

You clench your fists.

Yixing stands up from the table.

“Talk to him. Accept reality and get ready to move on. 7 years is a long time to spend together, but you can’t expect that he will just stay at your side for the rest of your lives.”

The door shuts softly behind him. You exhale a shaky breath and close your eyes.

_This ending was written from the start._

Ending. You’ve ended plenty of things in your life; why does this one feel so hard to break off?

* * *

The crew cabins is a space that you tend to avoid. Not because you dislike going there, but you feel as though your crew deserves at least this space for themselves. You have your quarters and you allow people to enter and leave as they please, but you know that the cabins is the one space where they can escape from your presence.

But there are times when you have to invade that space.

Times like this.

“Junmyeon? Are you busy?”

Said man looks up from the book settled in his lap to catch your eyes, his wide with surprise.

“Oh, uh no I’m not busy. Am I needed for something above deck?” He starts to get up from his bunk.

“No!” Your hands raise in alarm to stop him before you realize it. “No no. I just…I wanted to talk to you, if you’re free?”

His eyebrows furrow in confusion before he nods and takes a final look at the book to remember where he’s leaving off. “Of course, but I’ve got to admit that you’re scaring me a bit,” he chuckles nervously before closing the book.

 _Cut straight to the chase. Cut straight to the chase. Cut straight to the chase_.

“So uh, what are you reading?”

_Idiot._

His eyelashes flutter from his quick, startled blinks. “You came here to ask me…what I’m reading?”

You try to smile reassuringly when you nod, but you know that your piss poor job of trying to convince him isn't going well.

He narrows his eyes and then sighs loudly. “Yixing talked to me two days ago.” You hold back a groan as he sits up. “I was wondering when you would finally stop being a chicken and come talk to me.”

Oh great. “Traitor,” you grumble to yourself. “Okay yeah fine. I’m not here about your book. I wanted to talk to you about-”

Junmyeon stands up suddenly and your words stall on your tongue.

“No…”

Horror. You hear the emotion clearly in his single word. Conversation forgotten, Junmyeon rushes away and you stare after him with fear settling thick in your veins. Junmyeon is never one to cut someone off when they’re talking to him. Even less so being someone to be suddenly stricken with an emotion so raw and dark as _horror_.

_“Fuck!”_

_“Captain! Where’s the Captain?”_

_“What is going on?!”_

The myriad of voices come muffled from above. You hear people running around and calling out for you; it snaps you into action. Sleeping bodies around you startle awake at the commotion from above combined with your frantic feet stomping through the cabin back to the main deck.

It’s deep into the night, a time when the sky would be its darkest if not for the light of the moon.

But it isn’t black. A sickly shade of green paints the sky around you; a sinister and alarming feeling surrounding you. It’s far too bright and the moon is nowhere to be seen. Something isn’t right.

You look around your ship in alarm.

Sehun is the first to take notice of your arrival amid the disorder.

“The water! Captain there is something wrong with the water!” There is something wrong with more than just the water. You can’t stop your eyes from taking in the unnatural color of the air around you. Sehun’s grip on your wrist is tight and damp from the fear seeping out of his body in the form of sweat. He pulls you over to the side of the ship where most of your men are looking down at the water around the vessel.

It’s black.

Dark like ink and eerily still.

“Are we still moving?”

“The ship won’t move. We have no wind and the water is still,” Yeri informs you, turning away from the water with wet eyes. “We’re stuck. We don’t know what’s going on!”

Junmyeon. “Where’s Jun-”

“The dinghies!” a boatswain shouts.

You whirl around to find Junmyeon fighting off three of your crewmen in an attempt to climb into one of the dinghies. You run over and push through all of the bodies to grab his shirt and _pull_ with all the force in your body. You fall backwards with Junmyeon falling with a loud thud at your side.

He tries to get on his feet and you’re throwing yourself on top of him to pin him down before he has a moment to even get on his knees.

“What the fuck are you doing!?” you shout in his face.

You expect him to fight you to get up, but he doesn’t. If he wanted to he could easily wrestle himself out of your hold. He seems too calm all of a sudden.

“I have to go out there. I _need_ to go out there,” he says softly, chest rising and falling heavily.

“Go out where Junmyeon? There’s nothing out there; are you fucking _insane_?” You’re pulled off the ground and off of Junmyeon and held tightly in someone’s arms to keep you from tackling him. You feel _livid_. “You see that water and the fucking sky. What in Posiedon’s name could possibly be going through your head for you to think taking a fucking small ass dinghy into the middle of that water alone is a good idea?”

What is wrong with him? Has he not learned anything during these trials? Does he not care about his safety? None of you have any idea what is out there. _He doesn’t even know what’s out there_.

You feel your eyes stinging from the tears building. You’re so angry at him.

You can’t _lose_ him.

But he doesn’t even seem to care.

The arms around you squeeze you tighter and you hear your name being whispered calmly into your ear. “Hey, it’s okay. Calm down you’re shaking.”

You suddenly realize that you’re shaking so hard in anger that everyone is staring at you with concern for your wellbeing. Not at Junmyeon for trying to jump ship. Not the water for trapping your boat. Baekyun’s words do little to keep you from vibrating violently in his arms.

“Captain…this is it. I have to go out there,” Junmyeon’s voice is soft, placating as he tries to soothe you. As if _you’re_ the one overreacting.

You shake your head and gasp in a short terrified breath. “You can’t. Y-You can’t go alone Junmyeon. What if something happens? What if you’re wrong and you go out there and get hurt?”

_What if you’re right and this is goodbye?_

His smile is sad.

“I know that I’m not wrong. This is it. This is the en-” You elbow your way out of Baekhyun’s arms so that you won’t have to hear the rest of Junmyeon’s sentence.

“I’m going with you,” you state. “I’m not letting you go out there alone.”

You know that you’re being illogical. That you’re being careless, but you aren't prepared for this. You won’t let it end like this, you can’t.

“I’m not sure that that’s a good idea-”

Junmyeon cuts Yixing off with a simple, “Alright.”

“You can’t be serious,” you hear Chanyeol mumble incredulously.

“Alright. Come with me,” Junmyeon says with more strength. Off the ground and two steps closer to you, Junmyeon holds out a hand for you to take. “We said we were going to finish this, right? One last adventure together. One last time trying to find Atlantis. If you want to come with me I won’t stop you. We’ll finish it together, Captain.”

He smiles warmly at you and your chest tightens in fondness. His hand hanging there in the air is a simple invitation to end the mission at his side. It’s what you want isn’t it?

Apprehension and doubt suddenly washes over you, but you can't stop yourself from taking the deciding step forward and grabbing his hand in yours. Together. You started this together and you’ll end it together.

You like the sound of that.

Someone chokes back a soft sob, but you keep from turning around. If you look back now you may regret your decision.

He squeezes your hand reassuringly and you take in a calming breath to slow your racing heart.

You could die if you go out there. You know it. There’s a chance that if you go out there with him he is taken back home and the ocean takes your life to protect the secrets beneath her surface. That his feeling is right and you’ll go out on the water and you’ll both be lost forever. For different reasons, in different states of life, but lost forever all the same.

Knowing that you _don’t know_ what will happen, you still can’t get yourself to change your mind.

Minseok is the first to break the sudden stifling silence. “Fuck.” He throws his arms around the both of you to pull you into the tightest embrace you think you’ve ever been held in. “Be safe out there,” he murmurs to you both.

When he lets go of you, he turns to face only Junmyeon with a solemnity on his face that makes you feel ill. “It’s been an honor sailing with you, Prince Suho.” He smiles, crooked and gummy and just a bit too somber for your liking.

You let go of Junmyeon’s hand as all of your crewmen take it upon themselves to say their goodbye’s to the only first mate the ship has ever known. Hugs, kisses, tear-filled words of thanks and safe travels. You put some distance between yourself and it all.

After going to Junmyeon, Yeri turns to you. The tears in her eyes spill over, thicker than before, when she rushes you to pull you in a hug.

You hold in your own tears. “I’m not leaving for long you know?” You try to speak lightly, but her crying and grip on your shirt do not lessen.

You all know that it’s not certain what will happen; even less so if you will come back from your fool’s venture out on the water with him. Junmyeon’s permanent departure is guaranteed, yours isn’t yet determined.

When Yixing comes to you, you feel even more sick and doubtful of your decision to follow Junmyeon out on the black water. You wonder if the green light being cast across the sky hides the melancholy you’re sure shows on your face.

“The only reason I’m not going with you is because someone needs to have some common sense and stay and man the ship,” he says simply. “If you don’t come back, I will swim out there to bring you back just so that I can kill you myself.” You bark out a shocked laugh at his words and the tension on his face relaxes just minutely. His hug is firm, but the shaky exhale that he releases is soft. You wonder if you weren’t meant to hear it. You hug him back in reassurance.

“I’ll be back. I just…I have to say goodbye to Junmyeon. You were the one who told me to get ready to move on. When I see him off myself, when I see that he is safe, I’ll come back. I need this to say goodbye; I need you to be understanding. Please, Yixing.” He doesn’t speak more, only offering 2 solid pats on your back before pulling away to let you know that he’s heard you.

You pretend that you don’t see wetness in his eyes when he walks off to start bossing around whoever is willing to listen and distract him from the impending departure of his two closest crewmen.

Your crewmen don’t say goodbye to you, not individually, and for that you are thankful. You don’t think that you would be able to handle it if everyone acknowledged your voyage as a suicide mission.

The hesitation and sadness is there on their faces even as they refrain from taking you in their arms and saying what you all fear will be a permanent goodbye. The look in their eyes is enough.

Jongin cries audibly, curled in on himself, and squatting low to the ground after Junmyeon takes him in his arms and tells him to stay healthy and continue to live a happy life. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo rub his back in attempts to soothe him, and you accidentally catch Baekhyun’s eyes as he attempts to calm the younger. You aren’t sure what emotion you expected to see on his face, if any, but you least expected to see…rage.

The frown on his lips and the pull of his eyebrows as he rubs Jongin’s back while trying to communicate _something_ to you wordlessly is too much for you to be able to understand given the situation, so you look away and back to Junmyeon who is still being swarmed by crying people.

Sehun says something that you can’t hear clearly, but you see Junmyeon laugh brightly before he throws his arms around the taller’s shoulders and falls into him for a hug.

You can’t bear to watch this all play out for any longer, so you take it upon yourself to climb into the dinghy and prepare for the trip rowing out towards nothingness. Busying yourself with ropes, you only barely acknowledge that the boat rocks with the added weight of another body.

“You wrapped up your goodbyes quickly,” you say with a smile, pulling at the rope in your hand to tighten it. “Are you ready to go-” you look up from the material in your palms to…not Junmyeon. “Baekhyun what are you doing?”

Yanking the ropes from your hands and then angrily tightening what you’ve already tightened, he doesn't immediately respond.

He finally stops and huffs, irate. “I’m going with you guys,” he says when he finally looks at you. You don’t even get beyond opening your mouth before he continues on. “As if you’re going to see Atlantis without me. This was part of our agreement remember? Appeasing my curiosity and making sure me and my men get our part of the reward money. If you go out there and die or get sucked into Atlantis and I don’t get any money, a chance to see Atlantis _or_ the chance to kill you myself when this is over then the truce was for nothing.”

The reward money. You’d forgotten about all of that. You haven’t even thought about what happens next. If you make it back. If you don’t get the money. If you have nothing to show for this adventure outside of the hole that will be left in your heart.

“Right. The truce.” you mutter. How could you have forgotten that this was all temporary and as soon as Junmyeon is gone, you will also be losing men you’d begun to consider a real part of your crew. You’ll be losing…Baekhyun. There’s the potential that the two of you will go right back to being what you were from the very beginning.

Enemies.

You swallow down all of the emotion thickening in your throat.

He crosses his arms over his chest and looks away from you, frown still set in place. “And besides, who is going to make sure your dumbass actually makes it back safely?” His voice quiets. The frown melts into more of a pout. “I can’t just leave you to die.”

Your throat tightens further. “Baekhyun-”

“Baekhyun!” Jongin calls out, interrupting you. You and Baekhyun turn in his direction. “Please be safe. Please come back to us,” he says.

The smile that spreads across Baekhyun’s face is one full of adoration. “Of course. Who else is going to take care of you if I’m gone?”

A gross feeling settles in the pit of your stomach. You decide not to dwell on it.

“Junmyeon, are you ready to go?” you ask gently, just loud enough to catch his attention as he pulls away from a hug with Seulgi and Ten.

He nods and makes his way into the boat. He doesn’t seem the slightest bit confused or concerned with Baekhyun’s presence. You allow him to wave to your crew as you lower the dinghy to the unmoving inky water.

“Did you bring the compass?”

“Don’t need it. The song is telling me exactly which way to go,” Junmyeon replies to you. He places a hand over one of yours, and you clutch the oar tighter in your grip. “I can row. It’s okay, you’ve done enough. You can rest,” he says softly.

You let him pull the wood from your hands and watch his movements closely as he takes over, taking you all farther out to sea, farther away from your ship.

You sit in silence, just watching him and trying to commit him to memory. The softness of his eyes, the thickness of his brows, the smoothness of his skin and the slope of his nose. The way his lips purse in concentration as he rows and the mole that sits there right above them.

You recall every expression he’s ever made around you. The happy ones, the sad ones, the angry ones and the tired ones. The stupid jokes he would say and the way he would laugh at any reaction they would bring out of people, good or bad. The way he cared for your crew and your ship, and the way he cared for you.

When is the best time to say goodbye when you’ve pushed it off for so long? Right before you never see him again? When will that moment come? Do you have hours? Minutes? Seconds?

The world feels too still even with Junmyeon rowing and Baekhyun leaning over the side of the dinghy staring into the reflective black surface of the water for a sign of anything.

“Junmyeon…” you start. He huffs out a breath from the exertion of rowing for such a long time and pulls the oars in for a break. He looks at you with curious eyes. You feel Baekhyun’s eyes on you as well. What do you want to say? What can you say?

_I want to thank you for all of the years you’ve spent with me. For the laughs and the adventures and the support you’ve given me. I don’t want you to go because I’m selfish but I know that I have to let you go. I love you. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone else and I’ll miss you._

_I’ll miss you every day for the rest of my life._

_I’ll love you every day for the rest of my life._

_I hope to see you again someday. I pray this won’t be goodbye forever._

The words are there for you to take and verbalize. For you to get off your chest and out into the air. “I…I want to…” The first words get trapped in your throat and then die off soon after, when you notice something slowly crawling up Junmyeon’s neck.

“Junmyeon you’re turning blue…” you gape at him as bright stripes of blue appear on his skin, up his neck and across his cheek in delicate swirls and patterns.

“Holy shit,” Baekhyun gasps, eyes wide with fascination. The streaks crawl down his arms as well and you all stare as his skin is tattooed with the intricate glowing lines.

He holds up his hands to take a better look at the new additions to his skin. “This is new…”

“Your skin wasn’t like this before you left Atlantis?” Baekhyun asks.

Junmyeon shakes his head slowly and turns his hands over to examine them further. When he leans closer to the edge of the boat the designs glow brighter, more excitedly. The green sky shifts to a lavender. A gentler color, encouraging him to keep following his instincts.

“Should you…get in the water?” you whisper –fearful that your guess is incorrect and it will shift the atmosphere towards something dangerous.

You are only able to watch in frightened silence as he stares directly into the water, and then places both of his hands wrist deep into it without a moment of hesitation.

Ripples spread out abnormally far from where he breaks the tension of the obsidian surface, but he stays there with his hands still and a look of peace on his face. You look at Baekhyun nervously. He mouths a soundless, “Don’t look at me” with a helpless shrug.

When bubbles begin to rise beneath the little rowboat, terror grips you by your throat. You reach across the raft and grip Baekhyun’s wrist for some kind of comfort. Little bubbles quickly become larger and more aggressive. Junmyeon’s eyes close and the patterns on his skin glow even brighter as the bubbles grow in power. The boat rocks, glowing blue breaks through the black of the water from Junmyeon’s hands and surrounds the area just around the dinghy.

A circle of blue in a sea of black.

Your ears are filled with the most beautiful chorus of voices you’ve ever heard in your life. Soothing, warm, beckoning.

Like being welcomed home.

The return song of Atlantis, it has to be.

You and Baekhyun look at each other in wonder.

You can’t understand the language of the song, but the feeling it portrays is one of being caressed and greeted back home after years of being lost. Tears drip from Junmyeon’s closed eyes into the water below.

A smile graces his face. If even you and Baekhyun can feel this way, how must this feel to Junmyeon? How must it feel to be welcomed with such lovely song and feeling?

When Junmyeon’s eyes suddenly open, a faint blue illuminating his irises, the bubbles stop. The singing ceases.

And then the water opens up beneath you, and you’re engulfed by the ocean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is a tad shorter than usual but i wanted to cut it off here before we get to the last section of the book! We have maybe 3 chapters left give or take. I may stretch it out depending on if I add some more smut along the way. Also i cried (??) while writing this chapter, Junmyeon is my baby and sending him off breaks MY heart


	10. up is down

There are certain experiences you’ve lived through enough times to consider yourself a pro at handling. Situations like being handcuffed to a bed. Like being left on an island with no food or water. Like having to fight your way out of a bar when someone is getting too rough with the other patrons.

Drowning is quickly becoming a situation with which you are getting too closely acquainted.

When the ocean swallowed your little dinghy, your life flashed before your very eyes. This was truly the end. The last thing you would ever live through would be the song of Atlantis tickling your ears, the sight of Junmyeon glowing blue, and the feeling of Baekhyun’s skin beneath your palm.

All in all it wasn’t the worst way to go, but there was still so much more that you wanted to experience.

You’d never gotten a chance to return home, to sit at that cliff where you sent off your mother’s body and tell her about all of the things you’d done with your life. To describe to her the ship you’d bought, the friends you’d made, the adventures you’d gone on and the memories you’d made. You wanted to go find Victoria again and thank her for taking you in.

You wanted to find that boy that saved your life when you were but a child and to thank him properly. You wanted to tell him all that you’d done and repay him for giving you that chance at life. You wonder if he’s grown up into a handsome man now. If he has a spouse and kids and a happy home on that island you once called home that you left as soon as you could. You wonder if he’d even remember you.

You’d never gotten a chance to get the _Storm Chaser_ those new upgrades that you’d been saving up for. An extension to the crew cabins, sturdier masts, a new set of sails.

You hadn’t gotten the chance to fall in love, to have your heartbroken, to have a baby or even _hold_ one for that matter. Would you have made a good mother? Would you have made a decent wife? Would you have been able to find someone willing to spend the rest of their life with you, on the seas, on land, wherever your hearts could make a home?

Would you have tried to make a home with Baekhyun?

The feeling of being sucked down into the depths of the ocean doesn’t get any less terrifying the second time that you go through it.

As a matter of fact, having it happen again is more terrifying than the first time. Maybe it’s because you can actually feel the pressure of the water crushing your chest. You can feel the way you’re being sucked farther down and the way the water rushes into your nose from the shock of being suddenly dragged under.

It’s nothing like the storm, nothing like fighting the waves and catching the flashes of light as you fought to climb to the surface. Of being tossed around and dropping and rising hundreds of feet seconds at a time. At least then you had a purpose. You aren’t trying to save a life this time. You aren’t able to fight the invisible force dragging you farther and farther down into the water. The water around you is calm, the movement of your body whizzing through the water feels scarily misplaced.

Magical. Unnatural.

Then it all finally stops.

The force pulls you into a pocket of air and gravity takes you by force. Your body collapses on solid ground, and you can _breathe_. You gasp frantically for air and cough violently as you attempt to catch your breath and your bearings.

You sit up and position yourself on shaky hands and knees as you heave on the dark basalt beneath your splayed fingers.

It takes a few moments of panicked breathing to realize –you’re alive.

 _You’re alive_.

You realize that you’re alive and then you regain enough brain power to panic over if Junmyeon and Baekhyun are _also_ alive. You hear dramatic coughing and hurling to your left and when you investigate you find Baekhyun on his ass with his head between his knees as he spits out salt water.

He looks like a miserable wet dog. You would laugh if you weren’t sure that you look the same.

But where is Junmyeon?

You look left and right, in front of you and behind you but you see no trace of him. No sign of him in the underwater cave you’ve somehow found yourself.

“How did we even get in here?” you spit more salt water on the ground and look for your area of entry. Down. It felt like you fell down. So maybe there is something above.

A gasp gets caught in your throat at the sight above you. Open water somehow suspended above. If you weren’t nearly positive that you somehow fell from there, you would think there was some extremely strong glass blocking the water from falling through the hole above. You can see the glow of deep sea fish swimming by and you’re hit with just how far below the surface you are.

Dizziness pounds through your skull and you hurl out more water all over your hands.

Disgusting.

“Are you guys alright?”

You lift your head at the sound of Junmyeon’s voice and feel your remaining strength seeping from your bones. He looks between you and Baekhyun’s pathetic forms with distressed eyes.

Baekhyun looks up from between his legs with an incredulous open-mouthed frown. He looks your first mate from his toes to his head. “How the _hell_ are you dry?”

It’s then that you notice he looks remarkably put together. As if he never even experienced the sensation of being pulled straight towards hell through water. The patterns on his skin have dulled down to a pale blue, but they are still there as clear as day.

“An Atlantian thing,” Junmyeon answers with a shrug and a smile. He reaches out a hand to help you to your feet but you wave him away with a shake of your head.

“No, give me a second. I just- I need,” you point to the hole above, “This is just-” you close your eyes and wave him away weakly. “Fuck, I need some time.”

He laughs lightly and chooses to help Baekhyun up while you gather your wits. This is overwhelming. “Did you just _materialize_ down here what the _fuck_?”

“No, I came down in a bubble.”

“A…bubble.”

“Yeah you know one of those things filled with air-”

“You couldn’t lend us one of those bubbles?!”

“I didn’t know how. I don’t even know how I got it around me. Must be an Atlantian-”

“If you say ‘Atlantian thing’ one more time I will, and I swear to Poseidon, strangle you with my bare hands right here.”

“…Atlantian thing,” Junmyeon finishes cheekily. Baekhyun groans loudly and you can hear the weak thumps of him trying to smack your first mate and being deflected.

You struggle onto your feet as Junmyeon and Baekhyun argue. Typical back and forth between the two of them, you know Baekhyun is all talk when it comes to most people; he won’t hurt Junmyeon.

Letting your eyes fully wander the cave, you take in the shiny crystals in the rock around you and the way everything glows a tranquil light blue.

You hear the thundering footsteps before you see the people coming charging towards you out of the alcove hidden from your view.

“INTRUDERS, DROP TO THE GROUND NOW!”

“We just got up,” Baekhyun whines at your side. You lower your still shaking body back down to your knees and hold your hands up in the air to show your willingness to cooperate. In the corner of your eye you catch Junmyeon landing a swift kick to the back of Baekhyun’s legs with his good leg and sending him to the ground with a painful crash.

You flinch at the noise and the people in matching outfits in front of you hold out their swords, ready to strike at any moment. Once Junmyeon has lowered himself to his knees, the group of people break apart to make way for who you assume must be the leader. If the aura of dominance and the extra sparking pink embellishments on their otherwise plain white uniform is anything to go by.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” The man asks gruffly. He’s tall, handsome, big eyes rimmed in dark black kohl. His analyzing brown eyes drag from you, to Baekhyun, and finally land on Junmyeon. You catch the exact moment that recognition crosses his face.

His eyes widen and he blinks rapidly in disbelief, the sword in his hand clatters to the ground and resounds through the cave. “S-Suho? Prince Suho is that you?”

You turn to look at Junmyeon who has locked eyes with the leader with a look of confusion on his face.

“Do they know each other?” Baekhyun whispers to you.

“Shut _up_ ,” you hiss.

Junmyeon gasps and climbs to his feet. “Minho? Minho! I can’t believe it,” he says elatedly. The two of them run (Junmyeon more hobbling than running with the shitty cast still on his leg) into each other’s arms to embrace and you watch with a kind of fond sadness as they grip one another as if the other will vanish into thin air.

The other guards slowly lower their swords and break out into disbelieving whispers. Baekhyun grabs your left hand and lowers it to your lap. “I think you can lower your hands now prisoner. I don’t think they’re going to kill us yet.”

“It’s as if nothing in this world is enough to keep you from annoying the absolute hell out of me,” you grumble.

He beams, a wide and happy smile. “It’s my charm.”

You snort out a laugh while he stands up on both feet and holds out a hand for you to take to get up. You slap your hand in his and let him heft you to your feet.

Junmyeon calls out your name and you whip in his direction in alarm. He drags over the leader of the guard with a hand on his bicep and matching grins on their faces. “I want you to meet my childhood friend Minho!” He looks up at Minho with eyes beaming with happiness. “We grew up together, and Minho here is the Captain of the _entire_ Atlantian military.”

Minho looks down at the ground bashfully.

“It is an honor to meet you. Junmyeon says that he wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. I, as well as all of our people owe you our highest form of gratitude,” Minho says with a deep bow.

You blink at the gesture, stupefied into immobility. Junmyeon gives you a pointed look and a subtle bow of his own to hint that you should bow back. You quickly bend at the waist and rise up. “It’s- Uhm, thank you. It wasn’t just me though, there are lots of people to thank for his return up on the surface,” you say with a nervous smile.

Minho laughs. “I’m sure. You can all amaze us with tales of your time above at breakfast in a few hours. I’m sure you would all like a moment to settle and…” he looks at Baekhyun and your soaked clothing. “…clean yourselves up.”

The two of you frown indignantly.

As if you _planned_ on showing up soaking wet.

Minho whistles loudly and a smaller man comes scrambling out of the group of guards. “Hendery, show our two outsiders where they can rest. I will take the prince directly to the queen.”

The smaller man nods vigorously. “Yes sir. I would like to have Xiaojun assist me, if I can.”

“Take who you need,” Minho gives you both another once over before leaning down to whisper, “Make sure there is plenty of soap in their bathrooms.”

You squawk in embarrassment. Junmyeon offers an apologetic smile before coming to place both of his hands on your shoulders and lowering his voice to talk to you and Baekhyun as privately as he can. “Just follow them and relax. I will come find you once I am finished talking to the Queen. They won’t do anything to hurt either of you.” He squeezes your shoulder. “I’ll make sure of it.”

You nod in affirmation. Baekhyun grunts at your side.

Hendery and another young guard lead you away and out of the cave. You are only allowed one final look over your shoulder before Junmyeon vanishes from your sight.

The bleakness of the cave gives way to a wide low hallway covered from top to bottom in blue crystals, or maybe it’s glass.

“You’re awfully quiet,” you murmur to the man at your side. Neither of the guards bother to turn around at the sound of your voice.

“I’m trying to take it all in. This is insane I never thought I would ever actually see this place,” Baekhyun whispers back. You’re shocked by the genuine way he explains himself. “Why? Do you already miss the sound of my voice? I can keep talking if you want.”

“I’ll pass. I already miss the silence.”

His giggle resonates against the walls. You bite down on your lip to keep from smiling in return.

Your group reaches the end of the tunnel and the guards suddenly stop. Hendery turns around first. “Because we are unable to trust you we will have to transport you while keeping our city and location a secret.”

“Huh?”

“I think we’re going to get blindfolded,” Baekhyun whispers to you.

The other guard reaches into his coat and produces two pieces of cloth while Hendery slams a fist on the wall. A hole opens up where seamless wall once stood. You watch dumbly as the other guard, Xiao…Xiao something sits in the human-sized hole and then lies on his back before disappearing through a tube.

_What the fuck is this place?_

You’re blindfolded first and led to the hole. “Sit.” So you do. What kind of transport requires you to sit in a hole blind? You’ve lived a couple of years now and that's long enough to know that this doesn’t feel quite _safe_.

Before you can argue your way out of it, you’re pushed and then careening through space. With your eyes covered and the jolt of bewilderment at sliding too fast to be humanly possible you don’t have any choice but to let out a scream.

You’re on your feet again before you know it –albeit dizzy and shaking. The blindfold is removed and you’re met with the impassive face of the guard. You look around yourself to figure out what in the deep sea hell you just slid through.

“You might want to get out right about now,” he suggests.

You hear the telltale sound of Baekhyun’s yelling and cursing getting closer by the second, so you hobble out of the exit compartment and watch in wonder as the top of the compartment opens up and air blasts from the bottom to decrease the force of gravity as Baekhyun drops to his feet.

He’s shaking like a log and his wet hair and clothes are even more disheveled than they were before.

Maybe it’s the overload of being exposed to all the new technology and scenery, but you can’t stop yourself from loudly laughing at his appearance.

Xiaoxi…Xiaode…Xiaojun, that sounds right-

 _Xiaojun_ walks forward with a smile twitching on his lips to remove the blindfold from the once one-eyed troublemaker. But, Baekhyun has his eyes squeezed closed, refusing to open them. You take it upon yourself to physically pull him out of his spot.

“It’s over, you’re on solid ground now,” you tease. He peaks open one eye and it darts around distrustfully before he opens them both and leans forward with his hands on his knees to let out a dramatic exhale of breath. Another humored giggle escapes you. “You look like shit and the way you screamed-.”

He stands up straight with reddened cheeks. “ _Never_ speak of it,” he threatens in a low voice. You roll your eyes and lift a hand to fix his messy hair. You hear the hiss of air from the tube, knowing that Hendery will be arriving soon, but you busy yourself with smoothing down the unruly strands.

The red darkens on his face as you rake your fingers through the hair at his fringe. You aren’t sure what compels you to initiate the act, but he doesn’t stop you so selfishly you continue to take what you can. Satisfied with your work you smile shyly and turn away to hide your face and the heat you can feel creeping up your neck.

A cough snaps you back into attention.

Right, the guards.

Hendery has a creepily knowing smirk on his face while Xiaojun covers his mouth with his hand, but you can see mirth shining in his eyes.

Baekhyun clears his throat and crosses his arms over his chest. “So…where are we supposed to rest exactly? Or are we supposed to wander around and find it ourselves?”

Hendery motions to the right. “Down this hallway.” He nudges Xiaojun and they both walk forward. You resist the urge to smash your head into the wall as you follow behind. Into one of the…beautiful smooth white walls. For the first time you take in the interior of the building where you have ended up.

High ceilings and pillars. Enormous windows that go from ceiling to floor to show an expansive view of what awaits outside.

You’ve had plenty of time to imagine what Atlantis would look like, but seeing it in front of you now, bathed in a light like that of early dawn, with the reflection of water moving over the architecture…it’s too unreal, too magical to put into words.

“Keep up. You’ll be able to see the city after breakfast with the Queen,” Xiaojun advises. Both you and Baekhyun pick your pace back up after having fallen behind trying to take in all that around you.

Attempting to keep your gawking to a minimum you keep your eyes ahead and try to quickly take in as much as you can.

“We’re here,” Hendery says. You almost tumble into him when he suddenly stops; and Baekhyun trips over his own feet at your side. “These will be your rooms. There will be drinking water and a bathroom for you to clean up. We have already notified the castle staff of your arrival and there will be clothes delivered to you for you to change into for the meal.

“Breakfast will be served in 3 hours. One of the castle butlers will come for you to show you to the dining area at that time. Until then we advise you entertain yourself inside of the room.” The door is opened and a grand suite awaits you. Your mouth drops at the extravagance of it.

A large bed rests at the very center of the room, draped in iridescent white curtains that look as creamy as milk. The floor is covered in cold white marble and speckled with shells and pearls embedded into it. A large couch is perched near the entrance, a lit fire in front of it keeping the room comfortably warm. A book shelf stretches across a third of the room only stopping at a golden archway that you assume leads into the bathroom. The room is decorated in soft golds, creamy whites and pale blues. You catch little accents of pink in the wall paint and on the couch pillows.

The dome-like shape of the room makes you feel like you’re in a bubble.

“What is with you guys and bubbles?” You grumble to yourself.

Xiaojun shrugs. “It’s an Atlantian thing,” he says simply.

You close your eyes in frustration while Baekhyun grumbles at your side.

“So whose room is this?” Baekhyun asks once he’s done cursing Atlantis and its obsession with bubbles. Hendery and Xiaojun share a look and you catch the sneakiness on their expressions.

Hendery is the one who decides to answer, cheerily as if he isn’t intentionally planning to ruin your time here in Atlantis. “Both of yours.”

“I’m sorry what did you just say?”

“This room is for the both of you.” Hendery casts Baekhyun a wide smile. “You’ll have to share because…uhm..”

“Because we’re low on rooms,” Xiaojun chimes in.

“Yes! Low on rooms,” Hendery agrees quickly, conspicuously. You narrow your eyes. “You see we have a lot of guests recently because of a…” he looks to Xiaojun for help.

“For a uh, for a wedding!”

“Who is getting married?” Baekhyun asks, just to catch them in their lie.

“One of the princes! Ah we must be returning to our Captain now. Rest well!” Hendery says quickly before he and Xiaojun rush away with their hands over their mouths, giggling like school children. You’re adults, you can share a room. You won’t let the giggling of the younger boys worsen the pounding in your chest.

You exhale and shake your head. “Come on.” You enter the room first and immediately feel relaxed by the colors, the roundness, and general softness of everything around you.

The fire feels like it’s calling your name so you wander over to warm yourself up by its flames. Your wet clothes are beginning to feel bothersome again now that the excitement of being in Atlantis and being alive have begun to fade.

The sound of something sopping wet heavily hitting the ground pulls your attention from the flickering flames. When you turn around you don’t expect to see your roommate getting ass naked…

But alas that is what your eyes land on. His shoes and shirt are already in a wet pile by his feet.

“Baekhyun,” you admonish. He stops with his pants halfway down his legs. You look at his soft naked dick only momentarily before you raise your eyes back to his anticipatory face. “Really?”

“I’m cold and wet. I need a shower do you want me to get _sick_?”

“You couldn’t even wait to go change in the bathroom?”

“It’s nothing you haven’t seen before,” he responds before shucking the last of his clothing and standing in the middle of the room proudly.

In all his naked glory.

You can’t help but feel a bit put off by the fact that he doesn’t have any issue getting naked around you. He’s not even _hard_. It’s like your presence doesn’t affect him in the slightest.

Bitterly you wonder if you’d been Jongin would he have a different reaction in this situation. You stand up abruptly. Fuck Baekhyun.

Pettily you strip out of your clothes as you walk towards the bathroom, leaving the wet articles in your wake. “I’m cleaning myself first,” you state coldly as you all but rip the last of your clothing off at the archway of the bathroom.

You don’t turn around and you don’t bother to investigate why he seems stunned to his spot or why he averts his eyes as you walk by.

* * *

The bathroom is just as opulent as the main room. A creamy white with pretty pale pinks streaked through the marble and coloring the crystals that illuminate the room in a soft pinkish glow.

A tub the size of a small pool is carved into the corner of the room. Oils and scented salts in jars cover the expansive shelf built into the wall at its side. A wide mirror stretches across the room with a spout and basin to wash your hands in front of it. A varied range of brushes and facial oils and paints are neatly organized across the counter, settled in front of a thick patterned chaise. You find candles nestled snuggly beneath a shelf of towels and unused sponges on ropes.

Looking at your appearance in the mirror, your hold in the need to physically recoil. You skin looks blanched from the overexposure to water, and the hair on your head is knotted beyond belief. Not wanting to look at your naked form for too long you twist the knob at the tub to release a steady flow of lukewarm water. You toss in some oil that smells good and a soap that catches your attention. The bottle is made of glass and has writing that you can’t read as it must be in Atlantian, but it smells and looks good and bubbles up when it comes in contact with the running water.

Grabbing a comb from the counter of goodies and the specialized hair soap left at the side of the tub, you decide to make an event out of pulling your appearance back together. You _will_ be meeting the Queen in a few hours.

Gingerly, you lower yourself into the water and shove your head under the spout before lathering it in hair soap and de-tangling the strands on your hand. Rinsing out the suds and then turning off the water, you allow yourself to be semi submerged in the water.

“Yah, you can’t steal the bath and then spend an hour using it. I could have been in and out already.” You crane your neck to find Baekhyun’s complaining form leaning against the archway.

“You weren’t fast enough. Not my problem. You can wait.”

“No I can’t.”

“You can, and you will. I’m not fucking moving.”

In the month you have spent time more intimately with Baekhyun aboard your ship as a fellow crewman, you’ve learned one thing about him that you didn’t know before. He can be astoundingly _petty_.

His intelligence, his wit, his strength and skill as a pirate, his ability to charm and talk his way out of anything –you knew of it all before. But this petty level of childishness is new.

That being said, you aren’t surprised to find him padding over and then climbing into the large tub across from you. He settles and then his bottom lip juts out.

“Happy now?”

“No.”

You snort loudly and his pout breaks off into something like a smile. You push a handful of water in his direction, not enough to do much and not with enough strength to even be called a splash.

The little _shithead_ he is takes your push of water as permission to send a small tidal wave in your direction, splashing you directly in your face.

You splutter and wipe the water from your eyes while he laughs his loudest most punctuated laugh at your expense. When you squint at him through the water still in your eyes you see pure relaxed happiness in his features, and you can’t find it in you to even attempt to be mad.

This Baekhyun is the real one. The one he covers up with cocky smiles and biting words. The one he leaves locked away and protected from the heartlessness that is required of your jobs.

Happy Baekhyun is a vulnerable Baekhyun. A soft version of him that makes your heart hammer in your chest and sparks a juvenile desire to keep him at your side safe from anyone who dares try and take that side of him away.

His laughing calms to muffled chuckles hidden behind his hand. “Okay, _now_ I’m happy.”

“That makes one of us,” you scoff out. The water begins to agitate your eyes so you run the water from the spout to flush out the fragrance laced liquid. Blindly you reach out for the stream only to continuously miss.

“Come here,” you hear at your side. “Here, lean back.” You’re moved to the side and you lean backwards only to come in contact with his chest. You tense before giving in and letting yourself relax against him. You feel his muscles shifting as he reaches around you to cup water and pour it over your eyes. You blink away the water and scrunch up your face in discomfort. “I’m not done, try and keep your eyes open this time,” he says gently.

You reach up and hold open each eyelid as he cups the water and lets it flush out the soap. Finally you can blink without agitation. You contemplate thanking him, but decide to do it once you’re safely on your side of the bath. As you’re making your escape, arms wrap around you and pull you back securely down between strong thighs and against a warm chest.

“Can you…uh can you let me go?”

“Nuh uh,” he grunts with a head shake.

You look down at where his arms are crossed over your chest and swallow thickly. He perches his chin on your shoulder and takes in a deep relaxed breath. You feel stiff as a board. “This is nice,” he sighs out.

This is too intimate. _This is too intimate._ **_This is too intimate._**

“How long have you been in love with Jongin, Baekhyun?” you ask in a rush of breath. His grip on you loosens to nothing and you pull yourself away from him, crossing your arms over your chest to hide the hardening of your nipples. From the cold of the air and the all too close embrace you’d found yourself enjoying just a tad too much.

He splutters. “I- wh-” he starts to cough violently. You feel your heart sinking with each noise he makes. “I don’t- I’m not in _love_ with Jongin!”

You let your silence and your frown portray your disbelief.

“I’m _serious_. I’m not in love with Jongin he’s like my younger brother, what would make you think _that?!_ ” He fake gags. “Oh gross, just the thought-” he covers his mouth to fake gag again.

You gawk at him. Is he overcompensating to hide the truth?

“What in Poseidon’s name would lead you to believe that I’m in love with Jongin? I nearly raised the kid.”

You feel embarrassment creeping up your neck like snakes. “You- the…Minseok said…”

“ _Minseok said I was in love with Jongin?!”_

“No! Wait let me-” you smack a hand to your forehead. “Minseok said that you took the compass with you when you came to find the three of us and I guess I just _I don’t fucking know_ assumed you had to want to find your crew most in the world and then I figured you were actually in love with one of them and Jongin seemed like the most likely of him and Chanyeol because Chanyeol doesn’t really seem like your type but I guess it could also be him since he’s kind of goofy and airhead at times too-”

His hands come out of the water to cup your cheeks and then –lips. 

“Stop talking,” he says softly. Another quick press of his lips against yours. “You’re wrong and you’re stupid and you need to stop thinking before you overload your dumb little brain.”

“Hey-”

“Ah ah. What did I say?”

You purse your lips and let him squish your cheeks closer together until your lips are puckered ridiculously. The look in his eyes is fond almost, the smile on his lips and the shine in his eyes soft as he squishes and unsquishes your face.

You bat away his hands. “You still didn’t answer my question,” you whine despite yourself.

“Aw the baby getting upset?” he makes a face of exaggeratedly fake concern. “Come here, sit on daddy’s lap and I’ll make you feel all better.”

“Baek that was gross.”

“The invitation still stands.” He waggles his eyebrows and shimmies his shoulders. When his gaze drops down to your uncovered chest and a bit of the playfulness gets swallowed up by want, you feel a bit of that desire rushing through your veins again.

He isn’t in love with Jongin?

That only leaves more unanswered questions, but you let them go easily at the sight of Baekhyun reclining lazily against the side of the tub, rubbing up and down his thighs slowly and watching you with predatory closeness.

He is so sexy, you are so _fucked_.

Squashing the tiny feeling of shame, you crawl over and wrap yourself around him. You can feel him rising in excitement from beneath you. You let your arms rest lazily around his shoulders while he busies his hands with massaging circles on your hips.

“That feels nice,” you whisper in a puff of breath. You know that he can see how affected you are –can feel it in your impatient squirms against him as you attempt to subtly relieve the ache growing inside of you. He hums in agreement and focuses his eyes on your mouth.

You can take a hint when it’s staring you in the face like this. You lean forward and connect your lips softly. A peck. Another one. A kiss on the corner of his mouth. A kiss on the tip of his nose. Another on his smiling lips.

When you pull back there’s emotion swimming in his irises that sparks a heat in your core. You nip at his bottom lip.

A lick, a nibble, a juvenile laugh against pressed lips.

He sticks his tongue out through pursed lips, waiting for you to try and kiss him with his ridiculous expression. You pull away to grimace, only to laugh and lick a messy wet stripe from his upper lip to the tip of his nose.

“You’re a dick,” he laughs, wiping your saliva off his nose.

“And you’re a bastard,” you respond easily. You look at your deeply pruning skin with disdain. “We should dry off.”

“But I like it here in the tub; I haven’t even scrubbed the dirt off.”

“We can clean ourselves properly after I get your cock inside me.” You feel him twitch from beneath you. You cock your head to the side teasingly. “Oh, now you’re ready to get out?”

He scrambles from under you and over the edge of the tub right to the towels. You roll your eyes playfully and climb out just as he plops a towel on your head and quickly tries to dry your hair, only messing it up further.

“Hurry up. We’ll get sick if we stay like this for too long. We need to go to the bed and warm up, I can already feel a cold coming on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ARE YOU GONNA LOOK AT ME AND TELL ME THAT IM WRONG?? SHE CAME DOWN IN A BUBBLE DAWG GROW UP


	11. the properties of water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hidden secrets are revealed and relationships are set up to either bloom or die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! It's been a while! There is a bit of smut this chapter and relationship building. I haven't got much to say really lol

Baekhyun drying you both off in record time and then eagerly dragging you over to the bed may have been one of the most entertaining moments of your life. You cover your mouth with a hand to hide your smile when –once you’ve crawled under the covers- he crawls from the bottom of the sheets right on top of you with a cheesy smile bright enough to put the sun to shame.

“Hi,” he says breathlessly.

“Hi,” you breathe out. You bite down on your bottom lip to control the goofy grin threatening to break out and match his.

_You like him._

_You like him._

_You like him._

_You lo-_

“Baekhyun,” you say suddenly. He hums in acknowledgement, his body warmth wrapping you in heat. You push up on your elbows. “I want to try something.”

“Anal? Oh god bless!”

“Shut the fuck up before I take back my offer of fucking you entirely.” He stops talking but the playfulness is still there clear on his face. “I want to…put you in my mouth.”

His eyebrows raise in interest. “Huh?”

“I want to suck you off. I want your dick in my mouth okay? If you don’t want to, just say so. I just thought I’d ask…fuck that was a stupid thing to say-”

“No! No no no yeah no I would,” he closes his eyes and takes in a large calming breath. When he opens them, his pupils are blown wide. “I would _love_ for you to suck my cock, _holy shit_ ,” he whispers. You sit up fully and push him gently onto his back at your side. Throwing your leg over his waist and the blanket at the foot of the bed you look down at him.

“You sure that you’re okay with this? You seem…nervous.”

“I am _so_ okay with this you don’t understand,” he pants out. His hands run up and down your thighs, you think it may be to help calm himself down.

“You’re shaking right now. Maybe we shouldn’t-”

He leans up to capture your lips in an uncoordinated kiss, barely landing on your mouth at all before finding their place where they belong. “I’m just… _very_ excited. Please,” he murmurs against your mouth.

You can’t count the number of times you’ve slept with Baekhyun. Can’t recall the different positions, different locations, different places you’ve cum, but the one thing you can recall, can count, is how many times you’ve given each other oral.

Zero.

It was territory you both had claimed as an unspoken boundary that you wouldn’t cross. It required more trust than either of you were willing to give the other. Would require more intimacy than your quick rough bouts of intercourse normally did.

It wasn’t as if you hadn’t imagined him between your legs, his sinful tongue that was so skilled at tossing out insults and lies working against your center to bring you over the edge. But you couldn’t get yourself to ask or even _offer_ the opportunity to have yourself there so at his mercy that you were at your most vulnerable.

Similarly you hadn’t asked nor been offered the chance to taste him like this. Truthfully, in the past you couldn’t say that you wouldn’t have bitten his dick off if he’d caught you on a bad day.

“Are you sure you know how to do this?” he asks through a shaky breath when you wrap a hand around his half hard dick and give it a few test strokes.

“You are not the first man I’ve sucked off before Baekhyun, please get off your high horse,” you say boredly.

He frowns and removes your hand from his length. “I’m _not_?”

“No, I dated a guy for a while a few years ago and he liked it when I would lick-”

“OKAY! I don’t want to hear about someone else you’ve slept with.” He flops back against the pillows. “ _…turning me off with this bullshit_.” You hear him mutter from above you.

You wrap your hand back around him and feel his cock twitching back to life despite the frown on his face. “Are you jealous, _Baekhyunie_?” you coo. As expected you feel him hardening ever so slightly in your hand at the nickname.

“I’m not _jealous_ ,” he mutters petulantly.

“Mm. Is that right? Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to let you know that this is the first time I’ve really, _really_ wanted to suck someone off before,” you say lightly, giving the heat in your hand an encouraging squeeze to emphasize your point.

“…really?” He leans up to his elbows to look down at you.

“Mhm,” you nod and lower yourself to lick at the head of his cock, keeping your eyes on him. He whimpers and lets out a shaky breath. You swirl your tongue around his tip and are rewarded with a long guttural whine. You take half of him into your mouth and then pull off, sucking hard at his head before removing your mouth with a pop. You let your saliva guide you fist as it drags up and down his almost completely hardened erection.

“Fuck,” he groans.

“You feel so good in my mouth,” you murmur before flattening your tongue along the underside of his cock and then taking him fully into your mouth. He moans loud as you bob your head trying to take in more of his length with each time that you lower yourself on him. You feel him beginning to lose his restraint as he begins to buck shallowly into your mouth, trying to fuck himself to completion.

“Mm, _holy shit_. Been wanting this for so long,” he pants, grabbing loosely onto your still wet hair. You bottom out and attempt to swallow around him before pulling off to catch your breath. He sounds wrecked, weak and desperate, and his noises, mixed with the knowledge that you can affect him so fully with just your mouth, is enough to have you embarrassingly wet.

You smile proudly before taking him back into your mouth and making it your mission for him to cum like this. His eyes are watching you with a kind of glazed over bliss that makes you more bold in your job. You lock eyes with him and let him thrust into your mouth with a hand on his hip to keep him from moving too hard or too fast. He moans deep in his throat. “Fuck, _fuck_ I’m gonna…”

He weakly tries to warn you but you keep him in your mouth until you feel his hips stalling and the feeling of his shaft pumping out warm spurts down your throat.

You swallow it all without thought and lift yourself back up. “You’re going to fucking kill me,” Baekhyun grumbles out before grabbing you by the back of the neck and smashing your lips together. You hadn’t even realized he’d sat up until you were being pulled back down, tongue sliding against his as he tastes himself eagerly inside of your mouth. You moan into his mouth when his hand grabs onto your ass and runs down your thigh, so close to where you want- no _need_ to feel him most. You think for a moment that you may have to say it outright, but Baekhyun has always been attentive.

He lazily drags a finger through your folds and you shiver in pleasure at the feeling. “You’re so wet already. Just from having my cock in your mouth? That’s so fucking sexy.”

Heat spreads from your toes to the tips of your ears.

You try to hold in a groan of embarrassment but it comes out in the form of a whine.

“What?”

“Nothing, just fuck me already.” You try to deflect your embarrassment, but you’re stopped before you can.

“Wait hold on, slow down there,” he laughs. “I need more than 30 seconds to recuperate.” His fingers skim over your face, curls into a wet lock of hair plastered to your forehead, skates over your cheekbones and then across your lips. You feel like your body is on fire under his scrutinizing gaze.

“What?” you ask, parroting his earlier question.

“Nothing. You’re just…pretty.”

That’s too much. You swing your leg off of him and flop on your back at his side, eyes staring blankly at the ceiling above you. Why do you feel so affected by such a simple admission?

You feel him looking at you in confusion but if you turn to look at him you think that you may lose yourself completely.

His says your name a bit worriedly, a bit amused. “You okay there?” He pops into your line of vision with a knowing smirk.

Shaking off your daze and the way that your heart pitter-patters like light rain on the deck of your ship, you focus on him. “No, I’m still horny and you’re still not hard again.”

“Sounds like the perfect time for you to sit on my face then.”

“I’m sorry _what_?”

“Sit. On my. Face. I can get you off without being hard,” he states bluntly.

“You’re insufferable.”

“You love it.”

And you admit it to yourself easily. Yeah, you kind of do.

* * *

Waking up to Baekhyun wrapped around your back and a comfortable bed beneath you makes it in the list of things that will lodge itself in your memory forever. You blink away sleep and stretch out your muscles under his hold.

You turn onto the opposite side to find him still fast asleep –cheek pressed against the pillow and mouth lolling open. He looks beautiful like this.

You realize what it is that disturbed you from your sleep when the knocking against the door gets louder.

“Baekhyun.”

Nothing. You try again.

“Baekhyun?”

He grunts.

“Baekhyun it’s time to get up.”

“Mm,” he grunts again sleepily.

The knocking continues.

You slide out of the bed, grab one of the towels that were thrown haphazardly on the floor to wrap around your body, and pad over to the door. Unlocking it and hiding your still naked form behind the door, you peek out your head.

You’re met with the sight of a young woman with hair the color of cobalt. She bows deeply. “Good morning. I have been sent to notify you and the gentleman with you that breakfast will be served within the next half hour. I will be back to retrieve you then.”

“Oh, uhm thank you. We will make sure to be ready.”

She bows again and holds out a short stack of clothes that you take from her hands. She stands and offers a final curt bow before immediately retreating down the hall. You follow her with your eyes until you can no longer see her without stepping outside the door.

Closing the door behind you, you look down at the clothing you've been given. The fabrics are light and silky against your fingertips. At first glance they seem to be a mix of pearly white and shimmery light blue. It reminds you a bit of the crystals that you’d seen in the cave when you first arrived.

Time to actually clean yourselves up then.

Dropping the clothes on a random surface before walking back up to the bed, you decide to forcefully shake the other occupant of the room awake.

“Get up, we have breakfast soon.” You shove him with an open hand. He whines loudly. “I’m going to bathe, if you aren’t awake when I get back I’m going to stab you. I’m serious. I have knife hidden in my clothes somewhere.”

Threat hanging in the air, you wander back to the bathroom to _finally_ take a real bath.

After the water is run and you’re in the middle of rinsing off your hair, Baekhyun finally trods into the room and sleepily drops himself right in the basin next to you.

As you try to rapidly scrub away grime, sweat, and other bodily fluids, you’re being interrupted by wandering hands from the other body occupying the bath. The water sloshes around at the disturbances he causes while moving around.

“Get your hands off of me. We need to get dressed soon,” you complain lazily, batting away roaming fingers in the tub of fresh water and oils. You swat at his hand inching around your middle you encircle you. “Have you always been this fucking _touchy_?” You crane your neck to catch him humming thoughtfully with a pout on his puffy face.

“Dunno. Maybe.” You can hear the life returning to his voice with each word. The huskiness from sleep dissipating quickly. “You should ask Jongin, maybe he’d know. You know…since we’re _in love_.”

“Shut the fuck up okay I was _wrong_ we already established that I’m- _yah_ do _not_ try to slip your fingers down there.”

“You’re no fun.”

“And you’re a pain in my ass.”

“You won’t even let me anywhere _near_ your ass.”

You close your eyes to hold in the desire to punch him in his dumb face. He pokes you in the cheek. You’re met with a satisfied grin when you open your eyes.

The frustration immediately vanishes.

“Fine. Lie down and I’ll wash you off.”

“Huh?”

“C’mere.” He wraps long fingers around your arm to pull you closer to his body. “Just relax. I’ve got you,” he says softly. You lie back against him and let your eyes drift closed as a sponge runs across your skin.

The sound of him humming alongside the relaxing feeling of being washed nearly puts you back to sleep.

You startle awake with a splutter when water pours over your face. “What is _wrong_ with you?!”

“You fell asleep and I need to clean up. We have to get dressed remember?”

Holding in a glare you settle for a huff and climb out of the basin. Water droplets fall to the ground; you stretch upwards to loosen up your tightened muscles. Padding towards the towels you can feel eyes burning into your back, but the fear of being wrong keeps you from turning around.

You wrap a towel around your body and another around your hair and glance towards Baekhyun on your way out.

His cheeks are flushed as he looks down at the water and continues to run the sponge across his chest, but you chalk it up to the steam coming from the warm bath.

He has no reason to look shy in front of you.

Right?

Quickly drying yourself off and twisting your hair into something that could be called decent, you hold out the garment in front of yourself. It’s a long garment similar to that of a dress with a pair of matching pants, each white with blue swirls and silk accents that make the simple garment appear strangely elegant.

You rub at the chest area of the piece of clothing to feel it’s a bit thicker in material than the rest.

It seems comfortable, practical, but very pretty. It’s not overly flashy. You like it, although it's a bit lighter in color than you’re accustomed to.

But who are you to complain about free clothes given to you in _Atlantis_ of all places?

When you slide the fabrics on, you feel a confusing mix of sensations. A smooth coolness that reminds you of a light rain shower lying just beneath the feeling of warmth like that of sitting by a campfire. You run your fingers down the sleeves of the lengthy top and feel that same heat rush through your finger tips being immediately soothed by the coolness of the silk.

It’s magical.

The outfit makes you feel as though you should put more effort into your appearance. The memory of a full vanity covered in makeup hits you like a freight train.

You haven’t touched makeup in years, not since you were 19, right before you bought the _Storm Chaser_. An attempt to pretty yourself up for a night out in Arae when Captain Lee docked for the last time and you were able to take his final breath.

It feels strange to be looking at the expanse of paints and oils and remembering what it led to all those years ago when you last painted your face.

Does it prophesize a promising future? Or is it an omen of death?

You don't realize you’re shaking until a brush is in your hand and you’re looking at your reflection in the mirror.

_What’s the matter?_

“Nothing…” you mutter to yourself. Grabbing the brush harder in your palm you run it across the rouge and add color to your cheeks the way that comes to you almost automatically.

Color on the cheeks, filling of your brows, kohl around your eyes and a deep pink that borders on red on your lips –the motions of it feel robotic. You stare at your face emotionless as your features are emboldened, your eyes more sensual, and your lips more enticing. The person staring back at you looks less like the you that you’ve grown use to seeing.

She’s pretty. But she isn’t really you.

“You know how to do makeup?”

You startle out of your stupor to catch Baekhyun a foot away from you in the reflection of the mirror. He looks at you in shock, but it doesn't seem to be a bad kind of surprise. You set the lip color on the table, fingers no longer trembling as violently as they were, and paste on a smile.

“Why? Surprised by how good I look?” You take the chance to joke and cross your legs to turn in his direction. He looks handsome in his nearly matching attire –the length of his top a bit shorter and the color just slightly darker. He looks soft in the pale colors with his bare face and damp hair. “Do you want me to do yours?” you offer.

His eyes widen before he nods, clearly taken aback. You shuffle a bit to the side to make space for him to settle beside you on the chaise.

You scan the table in front of you and hum to yourself in thought. What would he look best in? Maybe a shimmery pink color on his lips and a pale blue on his eyes? Or a light pink on his lids and dark kohl rimming his eyes? The thought of his eyes rimmed in kohl immediately sparks interest in you so you grab that first.

He raises an eyebrow at the object in your hand and you smile fully before shifting closer to him. “Close your eyes,” you find yourself whispering. You watch rapt as his lids flutter closed and squeeze together tightly. You sigh out a laugh. “You can relax, it’s not like I’m tattooing your eyeballs.”

His nose scrunches in annoyance before he takes in a breath and relaxes ever so slightly. You lick your own lips in nervousness before you place a hand on his jaw and let your other rest on his cheekbone as you try your best to line the black as close to his lashes as possible. You can see his eyes moving restlessly beneath his eyelids and roll your own fondly and his inability to stay still. Doing the eye that's not on the side of your dominate hand is a bit more tricky, but with some maneuvering you manage to find a position comfortable enough for you to work.

With the top completed, you let out a breath of relief. Baekhyun opens his eyes and you realize how close you leaned in while using the kohl. You swallow anxiously at the intensity of his unwavering gaze.

“Look- uh, look towards the ceiling. I need do the bottom.” You stutter out. The twitch in his lips is almost indiscernible, but you’ve learned _almost_ every tick of his face. He finds the situation amusing.

Heat rises to your cheeks and you thank yourself for having the rouge there to hide behind. More careful than before you darken the lower part of his eyes, trying your hardest not to accidentally poke him in the eye.

His sudden ability not to fidget helps you, but you wonder where this sudden control came from.

Happy with your work you lean away and set the kohl on the table while Baekhyun blinks rapidly as if clearing his vision. You let yourself appreciate your work for a few seconds until he finally meets your eyes and it feels as though ice runs though your veins.

_“Where is she?! Where the fuck is that little bitch?”_

_“If we get our hands on her I’m going to wring her neck.”_

_Your ragged breath fills the space of the alcove you’ve been able to hide in. Chest rising and falling at a pace that shows the desperation that you’ve been running with for your life. Tears flow freely down your cheeks as you look around trying to find someone, anyone that will let you in and give you shelter at least for a few hours until the men give up, but you can find no one._

_You’ve been on the run for hours, the hefty purse of money at your side no longer feeling worth the pain in your legs, the burn in your chest, and the fear in your heart._

_“We’re looking for a girl about this high on the run. Have you seen her?”_

_The voices are closer now than they were but you’re too afraid to move. Too afraid that if you left your hiding space they would find you. The dark of night casts a dark enough shadow on you but you can’t stay here forever. It was too cramped a space, to small, and as soon as there was light cast on the alley you’d be found._

_You hear a latch unlock and a door open from your side and startle in your spot. A boy, not much, if at all, older than you walks out and you’re immediately illuminated by the light inside of the building. You catch his eyes and freeze._

_Like prey at the mercy of any predator._

_You know that you’re shaking. You can hear it in the slight jingling of the coins at your side._

_“We’re looking for this girl-”_

_You wince at the sound of the voices and squeeze your eyes shut. This is the end. They’re going to catch you. You deserve this. You’ve been all alone for years, no one here cares about you. It was only a matter of time before you were finally killed for fighting the inevitable._

_You were meant to be dead. You’ve known this for a while now._

_A sob racks your body at the thought and fresh tears spill down your face._

_Warmth encases your wrist and you’re too tired to fight it. The boy is going to show you to the men searching for you. You deserve this. You deserve this._

_You deserve this-_

_“Come on, you can hide here.”_

_You open your eyes to find yourself being dragged towards where he appeared. You look down at the hand on your wrist and grit your teeth to hold in more tears. You can’t appear any more weak than you already are._

_Stairs take you below ground. You quickly realize that it’s the storage room to some kind of clothing store. Fabrics line the shelves, colors and patterns you’ve never seen before. You swallow nervously and grip your purse with a grip so tight it would hurt if you weren’t full of adrenaline._

_“You can stay here for the night. I’m the only one who comes down here so they won’t find you,” he says softly. He speaks gently as if trying to calm a wild animal. “You’ll have to leave in the morning but hopefully you can at least have a few hours of rest. You don't look…great.”_

_“Why are you helping me?”_

_He shrugs and the hood covering his head falls back just a bit. You can see his eyes in the light now. “You just…looked like you could use it,” he says. You grab the bag at your side tighter and he catches the action. “Don't worry, I won’t take your money. You’ve been through too much for it to be taken in your sleep.” He laughs a bit to himself and you squint distrustfully._

_Seconds pass as you both look at the other trying to figure out each other’s intentions._

_Something in his coal rimmed eyes makes you want to trust him._

_“I-”_

_A voice interrupts you from above. “Hyunie what is taking you so long down there?”_

_The boy breaks eye contact first. “I’m coming!” He frowns at you. “You can stay, just be quiet okay?” You watched him huff and scratch at an abnormally large ear with a very visible mole before disappearing from your sight._

You flinch violently as if you’ve been physically pushed from the memory.

“You-You…” your throat tightens as you try to put together the pieces you’d previously blocked from your mind. The hands, the eyes, the moles… “It was you?” you whisper. The betrayal clear in your tone seems to shock Baekhyun.

“What?”

“The… the boy… I told you about that boy from when I was younger…”

The fear that flashes across his face is all you need to see.

You stand up on shaking legs. “And you _knew_. You knew and you listened to me tell that story and you didn't say anything…Baekhyun how…” acid sits in the back of your throat.

It was him. This whole time it was him. You should have known…you should have _known_. Seeing both of his eyes like this, lined the same way they were back then, it feels like you should have noticed before now.

He’s always had one eye covered…but his ears…his laugh his hands…you’re an idiot. You’re an idiot and you _fawned_ over the version of him you knew in the past right in front of him and he _knew. Hyunie_ , the nickname feels like a hot brand burning into your brain. Baekhyunie…you wondered where the nickname came from.

“It was you and you- Baekhyun how long have you _known_? Why didn't you tell me after I told you my story?” You back away slowly.

He stands up quickly. “Listen I-”

A knock on the door breaks through the moment. You both stand in silence as the knocking continues.

“The Queen will see you now!” You can faintly hear outside of the tense bubble that's been created around you and the boy- no the _man-_ that you’ve discovered has been a part of your life for longer than you realized. The knocking persists and you clench your fists at your side.

“We’re going to talk about this later,” you say through gritted teeth. You make a quick escape to leave the room as embarrassment curls in your gut.

You feel ashamed.

Tossing open the door to the room you find one of the guards from earlier. Hendery you think his name is.

“Let’s go,” you mutter. He opens his mouth to protest but the glare you give him must be enough to kill the argument.

“O-Okay…” you notice but decide to not bring up his purposefully slow pace that you know is meant to give your…room occupant time to catch up.

Heat flares deep in your face and you feel anger quickly surfacing to disguise it. You told Baekhyun how much that moment meant to you. You told him about how it made you feel and he _teased_ you for it. Teased you and mocked you while knowing that you were talking about him.

You feel sick. You feel sick and fooled and _mortified_.

Baekhyun catches up not long after, but after watching you jerk away from his touch at your wrist and ignoring the repentant way he says your name, he quickly gives up.

The energy needed to take in your surroundings is all focused on the ground and the feeling of the cool rock beneath your bare feet.

Your mind shuts off as a way to avoid having to think about what you’ve suddenly remembered.

You are to meet Atlantian royalty; you have to have your head on semi straight.

Hendery stops before an enormous set of doors, big enough to force you to crane your neck up to see the top of. Why the fuck would they need doors this big?

The doors begin to slide open soundlessly and you watch them in wonder. The room you’re led into is a grandiose dining room. A spacious table with 11 chairs set around it. One chair is just slightly bigger than the rest. The food is already set at the table, but you and Baekhyun appear to be the first ones to arrive.

Hendery pulls out a chair and motions for Baekhyun to sit. You figure you’ll be placed at his side so you make no move towards a different chair.

“Captain!” Junmyeon walks into the dining room with a bright smile on his face. “Wait maybe I shouldn’t call you that here…” Two men are at his sides, one of which you remember as the captain of the military, Minho. The other you’ve never seen before. He’s about Junmyeon’s height with kind eyes and a soft smile that feels a bit mischievous.

Minho pulls out a chair across the table, right beside the head of the table. “Your highness, for you,” Minho says. You watch as Junmyeon settles himself in the seat and a thrum of sadness hits you at how naturally he fits there. That darkness that had settled over him after Isla de Sirena is nowhere to be seen.

He didn’t need you, he needed to be here. You aren’t enough to make him happy. Yixing was right.

Minho pulls out the seat next to him and both he and Junmyeon give you looks as if to summon you to the other side of the table.

You know that if not for what had happened earlier you may have found an excuse to stay at Baekhyun’s side, but you aren’t sure you can deal with an entire breakfast feeling him next to you. Hurriedly you walk over and sit at Junmyeon’s side. Knowing he can tell there’s something wrong, you give him a shaky reassuring smile.

“You two seem close…” you look up to see the other man who entered with Junmyeon giving you an amused look with his chin in his palm. He fills the only other seat next to the head of the table.

He must be important.

“Oh…this is my brother,” Junmyeon says at your side. He rests a hand on your thigh and gives you a look that you know means ‘trust me’. You nod at him and he grins back. “Brother, this is who I told you about. The Captain who’s been at my side while I’ve been above water. Captain, I’d like you to meet my brother, Prince Jongdae.”

Jongdae smiles fully and you see the corners of his lips curl up. “It’s nice to finally meet you. My brother has told me a bit about you…”

“And at your side there, that is Baekhyun. I mentioned him as well.”

“Ah, so this is the…other male.”

“Other male? What the hell does that mean?” Baekhyun asks defensively.

Jongdae shrugs and crosses his arms over his chest. “Nothing. I just expected the competition to be…” he looks Baekhyun up and down “…more impressive.”

“Competition?” you murmur.

“Ignore him. Jongdae just likes to press people’s buttons to see how far he can take his jokes.” Junmyeon rolls his eyes. You stifle a laugh at the red spreading up Baekhyun’s neck as Jongdae continues to attempt to get a rise out of him with little offhanded comments.

It’s not long before more people begin to fill the hall and the noise gets louder. The table is full; five other guards join the table, each of them talking animatedly to Minho who sits at your other side.

You purposefully avoid looking in Baekhyun’s direction, even as you engage Jongdae in conversation and deflect Junmyeon’s sly attempts at uncovering what has happened between you in the hours of his absence.

“Queen Boa has arrived!”

All of the chatter in the hall ceases as a guard at the door announces the arrival of the queen.

You aren’t exactly sure what to expect or how to act in the presence of royalty. Do you stand? Should you bow? Are you required to curtsy and then press your forehead to the ground to show submission? Hoping to be clued in on what you should do, you glance around the table.

Baekhyun catches your eyes when they land on him and you clench your jaw in frustration before tearing your gaze away. No one is moving so there’s no use in continuing to look around –especially if it means making eye contact with Baekhyun again before you’re ready to talk. You still feel the embarrassment bubbling under your skin and it makes you want to fidget, stand up, walk around, anything to shift your attention from the feeling.

You hate feeling this exposed to him. If you had been the only one to remember, then it would have been different.

But would you have revealed it to him? Or would you have hidden it the same as he has?

A woman in a dark blue dress walks into the room with a gentle smile on her face and you shake away the thoughts clouding your mind.

Accustomed to hearing how royalty wear thick clothing covered in embellishments and patterns and material meant to display their wealth, her outfit is not what you expected.

The simple floor length dress the queen wears is only slightly shimmery, and clearly light in fabric. It flows behind her with minimal drama.

She’s a calming sea breeze deep in the night.

“Oh, you all are here. I must apologize for being late,” she says with a smile. Her chair is pulled out and she settles in it gracefully. Silence stretches out as she looks around the table. “Well don't let me interrupt you all, please continue your conversations. Let’s eat.”

And like a spell is broken, the chatter resumes and hands reach out to pile food on plates. You blink stupefied at the candor of her words and the casual attitudes of everyone in the room. Kings and Queens should eat first right? Everyone should be quiet at a dining table like this? Shouldn't there be more formality?

Must be an Atlantis thing.

Marinated fish is placed on your plate while you attempt to accept the situation you’re in. You follow the hand with your eyes to Junmyeon’s face. “This is normal. You should eat,” he says with a hint of humor in his voice. You exhale a laugh and squeeze his arm in thanks, offering a smile of your own.

“This is weird. Am I weird for finding this weird? It’s weird, right?” you whisper to him as you shovel some kind of seaweed stew into a bowl.

He shrugs and hands you a warm bun. “You’re not weird, but this could be shocking to people not familiar with the way that things work here.”

“Your Highness, have you met our two special guests yet?” Minho asks from your side. The queen looks up from her own bowl of food to look from her guard to you.

She places the bowl down. “No, I haven’t yet. I assumed it would be better to let them eat before we went into our introductions. We have so much time to talk.” She locks eyes with you. “Unless you would like to tell us more about yourselves now…”

“We could…tell you a bit about ourselves now?” Your eyes flicker to Baekhyun who seems equally nervous. “I’m…I am a close friend of Junmyeon…uh Suho? Prince Suho is- erm,” you clear your throat. Junmyeon laughs into his hand at your side. Instinctively you elbow him for laughing at you. Boa’s eyebrow arches up in interest at the interaction. Heat races up the back of your neck in embarrassment.

Shit. Fuck. You shouldn’t have hit him. He’s a prince for Poseidon’s sake. A prince in a room full of guards and the Queen!

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have- uh hit him.” You whisper a curse under your breath and close your mouth. Idiot. Fucking stupid uncultured dumbass fuck-

“This is who I told you about. My friend and my Captain above land. She’s the one who’s been at my side all these years and saved me from the sirens. I’d still have been on Isla de Sirena if it weren’t for her and Baekhyun here.” Junmyeon explains easily.

Baekhyun waves almost sheepishly from across the table. “I’m Baekhyun, it’s very nice to meet you your highness. We aren’t exactly sure what to say as we are unsure what you already know of us.” he says.

“I know who you both are. I know you very well Captain Byun Baekhyun,” Boa starts with a smile and fingers crossed under her chin. “You don’t think I wouldn’t be keeping an eye out for one of my own and those around him when they all spend a majority of their lives on our waters?”

Baekhyun’s mouth opens and closes and you look to Junmyeon for help, but the smile hasn’t left his face.

“W-We didn’t mean to assume or say that you don’t know- or er wouldn’t already know us. Of course you do! I mean…it would only make sense that you would be watching over Junmyeon- Suho- uh Prince Suho-” Baekhyun looks to you for help and you shrug helplessly. He nods to himself. “I’ll just shut up now.”

Boa laughs gleefully as you both flounder for words and any hint of how to behave in her presence. “You two are far more interesting in person than the tales I’ve heard of you.”

“Even before Junmyeon here spun grand stories of your adventures and your personalities, we’d known of you both,” Jongdae supplies.

“How?” you ask in surprise. You never would have guessed that you would be known in Atlantis. Known by their royalty…

“The ocean is large, expansive, but it’s a place where sound travels easily –especially if you know where you should be listening. We have many ways of listening to the world above us. The words you tell each other, the things we find out ourselves, we hear it all.

“Because of who we are as Atlantians, our relationship with the ocean is deeper than yours. We are more in tune with her sounds and the life that surrounds us. We’re aware of more things than you would expect.” Boa explains.

“Since you’re in our domain and under our spells and protections you may also experience some of the water’s more magical properties. Sounds from far away being clearer than what would be normal on land, injuries healing faster, memories being shaken loose and resurfacing are all common to those who visit us here. The water here has many positive properties,” Jongdae adds.

“Did you say that memories can resurface here?” you ask, suddenly very engaged.

Jongdae nods. “It’s not unusual to have repressed memories come back to you out of nowhere. Both negative and positive feelings could suddenly be recalled.” Jongdae leans forward curiously. “Why, did you remember something? Something you’re trying to keep hidden?” You frown as his bright eyes look into yours.

“No.” You state evenly. “I was just asking out of curiosity.”

He hums in thought and you pick up your bowl to avoid all the eyes suddenly on you. The room is eerily quiet around you. Jongdae appears to thrive under the attention and continues on. “I’m curious about something though…are you and my brother mates?”

Your soup catches in your throat and Baekhyun chokes on fish across from you.

“Jongdae…” Junmyeon says in warning. Jongdae smiles and shrugs innocently.

“What? You two are cute together. If you are not mates yet, do you hope to be?” he looks at the two of you with wide eyes. You’ve dealt with enough people in your life to know that his questions are anything but innocently asked.

“He has a point. You are at the point where you should have found your mate,” Boa says seriously.

Red colors Junmyeon’s face. “Can we talk about this _privately,_ sister?”

Junmyeon begins to whisper vigorously to the woman at his side while Jongdae watches Baekhyun chug down his cup of water to keep from coughing further. Slowly the conversation resumes as normal. As soon as the glass in Baekhyun’s hand is empty, Jongdae’s attention is right back on you.

“If you wanted, you could stay here. The queen loves you already. If you don’t want my brother, you could always be my mate.” His smile is salacious.

“Is this really conversation fit for breakfast?” Baekhyun intervenes. “You don’t even know her.”

Like a cat catching a mouse, Jongdae excitedly turns to the side. You fight the urge to slam your face into the table. “Oh? And you do then? Since you seem to know her so well, then who do you think would be the better suitor? Of me and my brother of course.”

You jump in to avoid having to listen to the man across from you explain who he thinks would fit you the best. This conversation is not one you wish to be a part of let alone _hear_. You aren’t sure you could stand listening to the two of them have a conversation about whether you should _mate_ Junmyeon or Jongdae. Baekhyun has never seemed a fan of you and Junmyeon being intimate together, but just to spite the prince at his side, he may just talk about how well you and your first mate suit each other.

“Baekhyun you don’t need to-”

“No, I just…I don’t think either of you would really…be a good fit…for her…” he murmurs. Your eyebrows furrow at his words. Now, he actively avoids your eyes and pokes around his food. Words no longer seem to come to him.

Jongdae presses on despite the nature of the conversation being less lighthearted than before.

“And why not? You couldn’t have someone else in mind by any chance could you? We’re both powerful and handsome; we could provide anything that she wants. Junmyeon is quite funny don’t you think?” Jongdae looks to you. “His humor and yours seem to match. You also seem to care deeply for one another.” He taps his cheek. “Ah, but maybe you prefer someone a bit less goody-goody. My brother can be a bit stuffy huh? Maybe you’re interested in someone a bit more wild, more unpredictable and willing to…tease you. Someone who can match you in fight of the wills, will push back when you pick a fight.”

His head tilts and his eyes float in the direction of the man at his side who is still looking down at his plate with a deep frustrated crease between his eyebrows. You feel your heat pump faster in panic.

Seemingly satisfied with the look on your face, Jongdae sits back in his chair. “Then in that case I’m perfect! You could stay here with us and be with me.”

You exhale in relief and place your head in your hands. 

“Don’t you have royal duties and princesses to attend to? We have lives above water. We aren’t staying here.” Baekhyun grumbles.

“Was this a joint decision or are you speaking for the group?”

“Does it fucking matter?”

“Cute, you think you’re her protector.”

“Jongdae! Enough.” You lift your head and growl out the command. He locks eyes with you and quirks an eyebrow. His lips twitch up before they settle and he holds his hands out in surrender.

“I apologize. I was just…appeasing my curiosity,” he says meaningfully. “I just wanted to know whether you’d stay with us or settle with not seeing my brother again…since he’s needed here now.” And just like that he slides right into the hushed conversation still happening between Junmyeon and the queen.

Needed here now? Something in his words bodes ill.


	12. fate is funny isn't it?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What exactly is Junmyeon's destiny? What is to happen when you return to land?...If you return to land.

You’re suddenly exhausted by the mental acrobats needed to keep up conversation with the younger prince. Junmyeon was right about his brother talking just for the sake of pushing other people’s buttons. It feels like he knows just how far to go before he backs off and lets you recover.

Just enough time for you to nearly forget about it all and only notice how charming and bright a person he is.

Then he picks it back up right where you started.

Trying to keep up with Jongdae is enough to have extinguished your earlier anger and frustration. You only feel tired. Tired of talking, tired of feeling out of your depth, tired of fighting.

You hear a soft ‘hey’ from across the table and lift your head to find Baekhyun giving you a solemn look. “Can we talk?” he mouths. At his side the siblings are still talking to each other with heavy focus.

You’ll have to have a conversation with him at some point.

Letting out a sigh you tap your first mate on the shoulder. He startles and faces you. “Is something wrong?”

“Baekhyun and I are going to step outside for a moment. We aren’t going far.”

A frown spreads across his face at your tone. He glances at Baekhyun before nodding. “Alright. You can just go, I’ll cover for you. You don’t need to announce that you’re stepping out.”

Trying not to disturb anyone else at the table you slide from your seat and motion Baekhyun towards the large door where you entered. Walking a bit farther from the entrance to the dining area, you find a spot in the hallway where you can lean back against the wall. It’s strangely warm against your back.

Baekhyun stops in front of you and holds your gaze in silence.

You click your tongue behind your teeth. “So…what did you want to talk about?”

His lips purse. An inhale. A frustrated exhale. He opens his mouth –lets out noise that quickly cuts off as he closes his mouth. “I’m…I’m sorry.”

You blink at him. Shocked that he would even apologize –wondering what exactly he’s apologizing for. Keeping the secret of the memory from you? Bickering with Jongdae? Not knowing what he’s even sorry for?

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I just…” he waves his hands around as if he’ll be able to find the words in the air. Catch them and present them to you for you to make sense of on your own.

He continues on once he deems the hand waving won’t help him. “I didn't think you would ever figure out the truth so I didn’t say anything. It seemed like it made you happy to think about that memory and I didn’t want to ruin it for you by revealing that it was a memory with…me in it. I don’t get why you’re so angry about it in the first place. If I told you, you would have been pissed. If I didn't you’d still be pissed. What else was I supposed to do?”

He runs a hand through his hair and exhales hard. “I just don’t get it. You’re frustrated with me no matter what I say and do and I’m just trying my best but that’s obviously not working-”

“What-”

“-I don’t know what to do at this point-”

“Baekhyun-”

“-if I’m not enough to bring you back on my own then what am I- I mean we supposed to do? You-”

You place a hand over his mouth to stop his word vomit. “Baekhyun,” you start softly. “I understand. I- I think I get it. I’m not…angry at you for keeping it from me. If the roles were switched I would have done the same. I was just…shocked I think.”

And you’re telling the truth. Had it been even a year ago, you _would_ have still been angry at him, angry at yourself. You'd have been even more pissed that the universe is dead set on making your life a living hell by entangling your path with his at any moment you initially value. You aren’t necessarily mad at the fact that a memory so precious to you happens to be one shared with Baekhyun –you aren’t even mad that he knew about it and didn’t tell you. You feel a different kind of feeling, a frustration, watching him anxiously try to explain himself to you.

A frustration you are more committed to understanding than keeping up a pissed off countenance.

Your hand falls down to your side. “There wouldn’t have been an appropriate time to reveal it either. I can’t be angry that there was just…never a right time or place.”

“You’re not mad at me?”

“No. No I’m not.”

“Then why were you acting so weird? I thought we were doing well before, but I can’t read your mind; I don’t know where your head is at. Jongdae started talking and you didn't turn down the idea of staying here with them or of being one of their _mates_ and I-”

“You’re asking me too many questions I can’t keep up,” you laugh out. “I’m here. I’m talking to you. I can’t exactly run away since we’re at the bottom of the fucking ocean, what do you want to know?”

Smiling at him when he’s visibly worried sends a pink across his cheeks from his mild embarrassment. “Are you…are you actually considering staying here? With Junmyeon?”

His eyes have started to dart across your face for a nonverbal answer. You look away just so that you can think without being affected by the concern swimming in them. That seems to be the wrong thing to do. Either that or he found something else in your expression. “You are aren’t you…” he whispers. The accusation is clear enough.

“I’m…there’s just a lot to think about right now. You have to understand where I’m coming from. Junmyeon isn’t going to come back with us, I’ve accepted that now. He has to live here and fulfill his duties as a prince and get married and everything. I just…I considered it for a moment. Just…what if I did stay?”

“…Do you _want_ to stay?”

You pause again and choose to stay quiet on the matter. You can’t say that if the proposal was decent enough you would say no without a little hesitation.

“What if…what if I told you I don’t want you to stay?” Baekhyun murmurs. You look up from the ground, shocked. His face is pink as he all but forces the words out. “Wh-What if I told you I want you to come back. To leave with me?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“I…I-I don’t think you’d fit in here. You don’t belong here. You should be on top of the ocean. Wouldn’t you miss the feeling of the wind and the food and your crew? You’d be leaving so many people behind just to settle here. I have to make sure you get back to your men.”

You deflate at his explanation. “Is that it?” you scoff and bounce your leg in frustration. Ah, there is that feeling again.

“Well…yeah.”

You feel your emotions coming to a boil. Unsure if it’s another one of the properties of the water Jongdae was going on about, or your own need to just…explode with the frustration that itches just beneath your skin like insects.

“You want to know why I was being weird when I wasn’t mad at you right? Why everything you do pisses me off?” he nods slowly, apprehensive from the anger appearing in your voice. “It’s because I was embarrassed, okay? I was embarrassed that I talked about how much that moment from our childhood meant to me to you and had you tease me about it. I’m embarrassed because of all the people in the _world_ that boy could have been _of course_ it was you. I’m-I’m embarrassed and _frustrated_ because it feels like everyone knows how I feel when I’m only just now…only just _barely_ accepting my feelings myself. I’m frustrated because after figuring that out, after accepting that maybe my feelings go back farther than I thought, I’m still scared to openly say that I fucking like you to your face.”

He takes a step back as if you’ve shoved him.

You take in a breath and push on. The floodgates have opened and you feel adrenaline pump at each sentence you're finally able to say. “I’ve been trying to accept it and I was pissed off because I’ve liked you for even longer than I fucking thought, and it makes me so fucking mad that I can’t get rid of these feelings because it’s _pathetic_. It’s pathetic that I like you so much that even just seeing your smile makes me feel gross and warm and makes me think about what it would be like if you liked me back. I can accept that you don’t like me, but to have you know how I feel, how I’ve _felt_ , and that you’re probably getting a kick out of it at my expense…” you lick your lips to save yourself from having to continue the thought.

_I’m losing a fight I wasn’t even aware I was fighting and it’s **frustrating**._

“I don’t particularly want to stay or be either of their mates, but after all of this and knowing my other option is to go back above and to keep losing this stupid ass battle with my feelings and to have my own crew making jokes at my expense because of it…well that's enough for me to at least _consider_ the offer of staying. It was embarrassing enough with my crew knowing, and…now you do too. So, yeah I’m embarrassed and frustrated, and the idea of staying at the bottom of the ocean sounds ideal right now.” You feel your face burning painfully. “Even Jongdae knows, that why he was picking on us. So now you know too since I’ve said it aloud to your stupid face. Everyone in the whole god damn world knows.” You clench your fists to keep from throwing your arms up in full on defeat. “So there. Satisfied?”

The coil in your chest, in your stomach loosens after your tirade, but a different tightness overcomes you. You told him you liked him and that him not liking you back made you feel upset enough to want to never see land again.

Not in that few of words, but _fuck_ was there a less dramatic way to say that?

Even though you said you had nowhere to run at the beginning of the conversation, you take a step back towards the room with the others just to free yourself of the suffocation you feel, but Baekhyun grabs you to stop you.

“I…I didn’t know,” he stammers.

“Obviously. I figured you would have made fun of me or at least stopped fucking me if you did. I know this wasn’t a part of whatever we were supposed to be doing. We fuck, we fight, we go on about our lives. We aren’t meant to _be_ together.”

“You…uh…” he swallows and you watch his face color further. The pink has long turned a red and spread all the way down his neck and below the neck of his borrowed shirt. “You like me? Romantically…you mean romantically, right?”

“No, as in metaphorically.” You roll your eyes and glance around the hall for an out. Your skin feels tingly as you feel yourself shifting to fight or flight mode to escape; mind no longer fully processing anything else he has to say.

“I’m…I think I…you…also…” his words get quieter and quieter.

Leaning in to hear better, you grunt out a “Huh?”

“I think I-”

“There you are both are!” you jump apart at the volume of Jongdae’s voice. “We’re taking you on a tour of the city…unless we interrupted something.” His eyes focus on Baekhyun. You watch curiously as the man across from you straightens up and clears his throat. The hand he’d placed around your arm drops.

“We should talk about this later,” he says evenly.

Rolling your eyes again, you push away from the wall and shake your head. “No. There’s no need. I think it’s pretty clear where we stand.” With one last glance, you turn your back to him and pass Jongdae to return to Junmyeon’s side.

Where you think you may belong.

* * *

The atmosphere is chilly as you sit next to Junmyeon in a sacred hot spring that Boa decided as your first stop in the trip around the city. There are multiple little sections to the spring, each little cave big enough for about three people and all of them warmed by the hot magma below the seafloor. Supposedly, the water has magical properties that can heal the body bone deep.

After limping around for days, Junmyeon was more than excited to submerge himself in the glistening water.

To your dismay it doesn’t glow or bubble up, but the pleased smile on your crewmate’s face as he rolls his healing ankle around is magic enough.

“You can get in too you know?”

His voice shakes you out of the intense gaze you have on his foot.

You hum. “I’m alright.”

A bit of water hits you in the face. You meet the unimpressed look on Junmyeon’s face. “How’s that rib doing? Or those burns on your wrist?”

At the mention of them, you faintly feel the aches in your body. You frown at him and focus back on the steaming water in front of you.

“You’ve been through a lot, get in the water for a little while. Please.” He touches your hand. “For me?”

With a huff of breath, you start to disrobe.

“You’re annoying. You know that?”

“I’ll take annoying if that means I care about your health since you don’t.” You elect not to humor his attempt to tease you. “…alright, so are you going to tell me what’s going on, or am I going to have to sit here and guess?”

You frown at him and cross your arms over your chest, sinking further into the water.

“Does it have to do anything with me?” You feel your eyebrow twitch. He nods. “So yes. Then, is it _just_ something I’ve done?” You flick your eyes away from his. He hums. “Baekhyun?” You try not to purse your lips but he catches the clench of your jaw. “Ah so we’ve both done something to upset you then. Oh woe is us.”

His lilting tone makes you look back at him. A smirk sits on his lips. “You’re staying here,” you say, more a statement than the question you’d intended it as.

He nods.

“Baekhyun thinks I’m going to stay here with you.”

“That would explain the weird behavior between the two of you.”

“He’s also the boy that hid me in his shop back home.”

He nods sagely. “Fate has a funny way of making these things happen. I’m not that surprised.”

“I told him I like him.”

He nods again, eyes closed. “Ah of course- wait you _what_?” his eyes pop back open and you feel a sick satisfaction at seeing him finally react in shock to your words. Fucking intuitive bastard, always being able to make correct predictions.

A sigh, “Yes.” Another inch deeper into the water. “I told him because he’s a fucking idiot…and because I’m a fucking idiot. I know you wouldn’t ask me to stay here with you even if you wanted to, you’re too self-sacrificing to do that.” You breathe out a laugh and he smiles sadly. “I’d just rather leave all of my regrets here. I have to give you up, and in a way I’m going to give Baekhyun up too. I’m ready to accept what I feel and move on from here.”

“Move on? Slow down, what did he say when you confessed? You've jumped a mile ahead.”

“Doesn’t matter. It’s clear that he doesn’t feel the same, or that he’s overwhelmed by what I said. Whatever, I don’t need to be that attached to anyone anyway. I shouldn't get so attached to people, they end up leaving anyway and if I cut off contact with him now, after he gets his gold or whatever the hell he came down here for then I’ll do whatever I can to avoid him. Until I can kill my feelings. I'm tired of feeling lost after losing people because I started to care too much about them.”

“You’re…talking about me too right now aren’t you?” he asks softly.

Your eyes sting. “No,” you lie.

“Hey-”

“It’s alright. Really. I’m fine. Everything is fine. You’re home. I’ll have my ship to go back to. I can go back to living my life on the sea and knowing that you’re where you belong, and that you'll be able to forget all about us without issue. I won’t have to worry about Baekhyun because he’ll be wherever the hell he goes when we don’t meet in Arae and we’ll be on neutral terms. Everything will be good.”

He says your name in a way that pains you. “Do you really think all of that? Do you really think he’s only here for the gold? Do you think I’m just going to forget about all of you? That I’ll forget you?”

Most of you knows that you’re just saying all of this to make yourself feel worse, to make yourself feel even more abandoned than you will be, but you can’t bear to take the words back.

“Of all of that, you got a single thing right. You really are a fucking idiot. I…I can’t speak for everyone, but I will speak for myself. You mean the world to me and I would be no one without you in my life. For you to reduce your impact, your meaning to me to something as small as that is frankly insulting.” He gaze burns into yours. You look away. “I think we need to have a deeper conversation once we get back to the castle. I know you’ve got more on your mind, and I have far more to say than I can with the time we’ve been allowed here.”

You look back at him and bite down on your cheek. “Alright.”

Dressing in silence, your thoughts swirl messily in your head. The weight of an arm settles across your shoulders. “I love you, idiot. You’re my best friend and nothing will change that. Get it through your thick head.” A shaky smile spreads across your face at his words.

“I love you, too.”

He beams then. “Let’s go. We’ve got a tour to finish before we can finish our talk.”

* * *

“A lot of our infrastructure was build around maintaining the environment. Passageways made big enough for creatures to swim through without issue. You may be confused considering we are all here breathing air, but there is a barrier put up around the city at times to close it off from the surrounding waters.

“There are times when the barriers must come down and we essentially flood the city to protect our safety; therefore, it must be habitable to both us and the sea life around us.” Boa leads you all down a pathway lined in coral and paved with smooth cool rock.

Halfheartedly you listen to the history and architectural lesson she has so kindly decided to give you all. A lesson she has taken her time to give on her own.

You try to pay attention, you really do. It’s hard not to with all of the new and interesting information, but you keep feeling your mind slipping and thinking about Baekhyun. About Junmyeon.

You aren’t sure how long you’ll be staying in Atlantis, not sure how long their hospitality will last before you have to leave. Not sure what awaits you upon return.

“-is why all Atlantians have the ability to breathe under water. Our carefully hidden gills are only visible when we are in the water.”

“I’d been in water before while I was gone…why couldn’t I breathe underwater then?” Junmyeon questions, genuinely curious.

Jongdae nudges him. “Your special privileges get revoked not long after you defect from the city. If you hadn’t left us then you would have kept them.”

“I don't remember ever having them.” Junmyeon says, pushing his brother lightly.

“There’s a reason your memory fades the longer you’re away from us. It’s to protect our people. If you were captured and tortured, you’d be able to tell them all you know, so we take away the most important things first. Your gills go first, then the ability to swim long distances, then memories of where we are and how to get back,” Boa explains solemnly. “It’s never a personal punishment, but rather a precaution for the safety of everyone else.”

“Seems rather harsh,” you find yourself murmuring unconsciously.

“Harsh but necessary,” Boa directs to you. She stops in her tracks and everyone in the group follows. Her eyes are on you, they burn with emotion, but they are not hostile like you expect. “If you had not found him, if he had found someone with less than pure intentions, what do you think would have happened? We are not like humans. Our ways allow us to be much more honest and trusting of one another.

“By the time he was ready to return, had he had his memories and his abilities, had he found someone else, they would have taken advantage of him. Not only would he have been a pawn, a useful asset, but a direct map to our location and the sole cause of our destruction. Leaving is already a reckless thing to do. We cannot leave the fate of our sanctuary to be left in the hands of those who abandon us and are naively tricked to reveal its location by humans.”

Junmyeon’s head falls down in shame. You feel offended on his behalf. She may be right but she could give him more credit than that. You open your mouth to defend him, but someone else is faster.

“But he didn’t get tricked did he? He found her first, and he got her help first. So it’s obvious he has good judgment when it comes to people. You’ve listed all of these things that could have gone wrong but all of the trouble he was put through to get home nearly killed not only us, but him as well. I understand that it’s a safety measure, but you should also consider the weight of your words when you describe your own brother as naive and reckless after all he’s done to get back safely,” Baekhyun says evenly. He bows his head slightly, “With all due respect.”

She gives him a measured look before a laugh trills from her lips. “Perhaps you are right…” Turning to Junmyeon she places a hand on his neck. “You do have good judgment. I apologize for my words. All the stories I’ve been told of why we do what we do for our protection just took over my rational thought. I didn’t mean to insinuate you are reckless or naive. If the two you’ve brought here with you are any indication of your ability to read others then it’s clear you are truly befit of being a son of Poseidon.”

The gentle honesty she casts him shocks you, and by the looks of it Baekhyun and Junmyeon as well. You can see Junmyeon’s eyes getting misty as he places a hand on his sister’s hand to hold it to his neck in appreciation. Baekhyun’s eyes dart between them as if he’s expecting them to switch their reaction and attack him for his words.

“My sincerest apologies, when you’re told every day of your life that the safety of the city and the ocean comes first, sometimes you forget to…think about your wording even when it’s directed at family,” She says with a small smile.

“Uh- it’s- I’m…”

You instinctively step in front of Baekhyun who seems to still be searching for his words. “No, you’re too kind. We just care a lot about Junmyeon; your point of view is understandable.”

Jongdae snorts and you snap your head to look his way. He just smiles and shrugs exaggeratedly.

Boa’s eyes light in excitement. “Let me show you all to the treasure of the city.”

Briefly, you think about how this is all Baekhyun is really here for. Finally, he’ll get his treasure.

* * *

The walk to the treasure is filled with more explanations of traditions and history and architecture, and even as you listen in, you find yourself frowning due to the lack of excitement your former foe displays.

This is what he came along for. Why aren’t his eyes gleaming? Why isn’t he asking 1000 questions and trying to learn as much as he can about Atlantis the way he wanted? Why does he look so lost and like he’s been kicked while already on the ground?

“You seem distracted,” someone whispers to you while you sneak another glance in Baekhyun’s direction. You startle and almost bump heads with Jongdae who has his eyebrows arched up curiously. 

Your frown deepens as you look forward to where Boa is still animatedly talking and answering the occasional question Junmyeon asks to fill in the gaps of his missing memory. “Do I?”

Jongdae hums. “You know…I overheard your conversation in the hallway this morning.”

You scoff. “Of course you did.”

“I don’t mean to insert myself into your business, but I think you’re avoiding a solution that's staring at you right in the face.”

“What? Do you mean your proposal of being mates?” You smile wryly.

He laughs and shakes his head. “No, although my offer is still on the table if you happen to fall in love with me by the end of your trip,” he says playfully. There’s no seriousness in his words so you allow yourself to smile just a bit more authentically.

“Not gonna happen.”

“Damn. We could have made beautiful little half fish half human kids.”

“Wouldn’t it be more like a quarter sea God and three quarters human kids?”

“Your interest in my genetics betrays your earlier words,” he whispers. “I’m already a quarter of the way to seducing you.”

You breathe out a genuine laugh and roll your eyes. Jongdae smiles a bit wider at having gotten you to stop frowning.

“Then what’s this grand solution you claim to know of?”

He pretends to think and then looks around. You follow the exaggerated act amused, a smile twitching at the corner of your lips. “Ah, my solution. I think…that you should do a better job of watching those around you.”

“…That’s it?”

“Mhm. Simple isn’t it?”

“How is that going to fix my distraction?”

He shrugs noncommittally. “Like I said. Pay more attention to the people around you.”

Your eyebrows furrow together and he winks before groaning loudly. “When will we get there? My legs are aching from this elongated walk you’ve taken us on. We could have arrived a full hour ago,” he complains –projecting his voice to the two leading the way.

Without missing a beat Boa answers. “We’re here. Had you not been flirting with our guest maybe you would have recognized your surroundings.”

You look around the area to fully take in the scenery for the first time since your conversation with Jongdae began. It appears that you’ve ventured to the very center of the city. Buildings wind and curve around you, up and over your heads. It feels as though they are all leaning to face the very spot you all stand.

You don't see anything of value.

“These…are the guardians of the ocean.”

Boa places a hand on an oddly sharp looking rock, it glows faintly at her touch. You take notice of the other 8 evenly spaced rocks in a circle around you. Each of them are double the size of the average person, and all but two of them look smooth to the touch and are solid black.

“Why are only two of them jagged and glowing?” Baekhyun asks the question you struggled to form.

Jongdae gives him a sad look. “They’re the last ones we have left with power.” The air feels depressing all of a sudden, so you keep your questions to yourself. Junmyeon places a palm on the smooth guardian closest to him and frowns when it doesn’t react to the touch.

“This is it isn’t it? The reason why the ocean has been so chaotic lately…the guardians are losing their power,” he frowns deeply, as if feeling emotional pain from the sight of the rock.

“Yes, it is. Unfortunately…our ancient guardians have been losing their power over the years. Each time one breaks down, another catastrophe meets the ocean. They’ve been around for as long as Atlantis has been, but we have no way to fix them. We can’t very well just ask Poseidon to come back to return them to their original power,” Boa explains.

“There were five before I left…what happened?” The look in Junmyeon’s eyes is one of devastation.

He locks eyes with Boa and they share a moment before realization flashes in his eyes and his jaw sets. “Oh…”

“Oh?”

His attention turns to you. “It’s…” a sigh “nothing for you to worry about.” He finishes lamely.

“Once you left, the first one broke down. 10 years later, we lost a second. The third met its fate only a year ago.” Boa’s eyes are set on Junmyeon. A frown marring her face.

“What happens if they all lose their power?”

“Then everyone is fucked!” Jongdae supplies cheerily with a slap to Baekhyun’s shoulder.

“We don’t need to have all 9 of them to keep the ocean alive, but to be down to one would be the destruction of the world as you know it. Storms so strong and creatures so terrifying that it would eradicate all that lies on land. Without the final guardian, Atlantis would collapse and be unable to even attempt to restore the peace the destruction of a second guardian would bring.” Boa looks at one of the last two guardians. “We don’t seem to have much time before things take a dark turn.”

As if listening to the conversation, the glow of guardian beneath her hand flickers and all of the lights in the city immediately die.

* * *

It takes a few minutes before the lights in the city come back on, but you’re terrified to say the least. Once the city went black, emergency lights came on and the palace guards were immediately at your sides to guide you to safety.

You all are guided to a building not far from the dying guardians.

Deathly silence engulfs you all.

Until, Jongdae speaks up.

“What has Junmyeon told you about why he left?”

You swallow and clench you fists to ground yourself. The anxiety of being buried miles below the surface of the water, engulfed in nothing but blackness like before is fraying your nerves. You fight the urge to look over to Baekhyun, to search out his pulse just to reassure yourself that he’s still breathing. That you haven’t somehow still been drowning since that first storm. “He said that he left because he was being pressured about some destiny he has to fulfill to save Atlantis and he panicked…”

“Do you know what that destiny is?” Jongdae inquires further.

You shake your head, looking over to Junmyeon who is carefully avoiding your gaze. “No. He never told me. Never told us.”

“Jongdae _shut up_.” Junmyeon bites out.

“Our lovely Junmyeon here- _fuck_! _Ouch!_ ” You watch as Junmyeon yanks Jongdae up by the front of his shirt and drags him out of the room. You blink at the door were they vanished feeling a chasm opening up in your chest. A bad feeling is building, a very bad feeling.

“I suppose he wants to tell you on his own time,” Boa sighs out. She runs a hand across her face and looks from you to Baekhyun. “Perhaps we should head back so that everyone can rest.”

“BUT WHAT ABOUT THE GUARDIAN!?” you stand up to all but shout. 

She waves a hand in the air dismissively. “It has been doing that for almost half a year. It will be fine for one more night. I think we all need a night to let our minds and bodies catch up with all of the day’s events.”

Jongdae and Junmyeon reenter then, sour expressions on both their faces. Boa immediately deems it time to return.

No one seems up to having a group dinner tonight. You can't say that you're bothered by the decision for everyone to eat in the privacy of their rooms


End file.
